Fake Vs Real
by cbssoapsgirl
Summary: Olivia is sick, very sick. Her reality is getting lost in her mind and she can't continue on with her normal life. How can she fix herself to get back to her life?
1. Author's Note

Hey everyone!

Thanks for reading the story so far. Right now, I'm having a bit of writer's block so I've taken down the chapters that were posted and starting over. Hopefully, this will help. I have an idea for the story but need to go back and rewrite since it leads in a different direction. Not to worry gladiators! OLITZ IS ALWAYS ENDGAME!

Hope to have the first chapter posted tonight. It's going to be the same title as this, I'll just add it in as the next 'chapter'.


	2. Where In The World Is Olivia Pope?

"Sir, this came for you," Tom said, handing Fitz a file.

"Thanks Tom," he responded taking it. He flipped it open and saw the writing. Liv's writing.

_Last Will and Testament of Olivia C. Pope._

Fitz wasn't sure if he should be upset with this or laugh. It'd been a month since Jerry's death so it wasn't funny to have Olivia's will in his hands. But it was funny that he was being given things of hers.

He read through the papers thoroughly. Liv was giving him the house in Vermont, her apartment, her car, and 50 percent of Olivia Pope and Associates. He picked up the phone and called her cell phone.

Disconnected.

Hanging up he tried her home phone.

Disconnected.

"Third times the charm," he told himself. He called OPA.

Disconnected.

As he went to dial Cyrus's number, he walked in. "Where's Liv? The numbers are all disconnected. And you won't believe what I just got."

"Her will?"

"How'd you know?"

"I got it too. I'm not sure where she is. I sent one of the staff over to OPA a while ago and he said it was cleared out. No one's there. Then I went to her apartment and she's not there. I even broke in; Liv's nowhere. I've got a call into her team but no one is answering," Cyrus informed Fitz.

"I've got an idea," Fitz stated. He picked up the phone again and dialed another number. "Congressman Shaw? This is President Grant, I know that you have Olivia Pope and her team on your payroll as do many others. By chance, do you happen to know where she is? I have an urgent matter to discuss with her." Fitz listened to the Congressman. "Oh, well, thank you for your help." He hung up and leaned back in his chair. "Why hasn't Olivia been seen in a month?"

Cyrus shakily sat in the chair next to his desk. "Do you think Rowan got to her?"

"No, he wouldn't hurt his own child. Gabby, Huck, Harrison, no one is answering?"

"Abby isn't and neither is anyone else. Would she have gone to Vermont? She's told me about the house up there."

"The housekeeper is supposed to notify me if anyone comes on the property, but I'll check." Fitz called the housekeeper but no one had been there since he left with Olivia months ago. "I do not like this Cyrus."

"Neither am I; Olivia wouldn't just disappear like this. What about that Jake guy? He'd know right?"

"Possibly, let's try him." Fitz dialed the number and put him on speaker.

"This is Captain Ballard," Jake answered.

"Jake, it's me. Where's Olivia?" Fitz asked.

"Not sure."

"Don't lie to me, Captain."

"Okay, can we pick a role please? Am I speaking to the President or am I speaking to Fitz? It's hard to do both."

"You are speaking to the President who as Fitz is worried about Olivia," Fitz said.

"Alright, I'm honestly not sure where she is. She got on a plane and left after Jerry's funeral."

Cyrus and Fitz stared at the phone, not able to comprehend what was just said. "What do you mean she left?" Cyrus nearly screamed.

"I mean she got on a plane and left. She didn't say anything about where she was going."

"You never thought to ask?"

"This is Olivia Pope we are talking about. She doesn't really explain things."

"Is there anything you can tell us that may help us find her?"

"No, sir, I can't. If I knew I'd get her and bring her back. I'm about to be deployed for a special mission tomorrow so I can't really help. Sorry I can't be of more use, Fitz. If I hear from her I'll call you. But I highly doubt that I will."

"Thanks Jake, be safe."

Fitz hit end and hung up. "Olivia is missing, her team is missing, everything is gone, and I have her will. This day isn't going like I planned."

"Sir, what would you like to do?"

"I want to send every agent and agency I can to find her."

"Logically, what would you like to do Fitz?"

"I'm starting a team to find her. I don't care what it takes or how much money it costs. I want her found and brought back here."

"I'll start the recruits and start working on the hospitals, maybe she ended up in one of them," Cyrus said leaving the room.

Fitz stared at a picture of Olivia he took from the campaign that he kept in his desk. She had a glass of wine in her hand and was laughing at something he said. "Olivia Pope, where in the world are you?"


	3. Hallucinations

Olivia sat in the hospital bed watching the news while her doctor rallied her team of physicians. So far it was a usual news cycle but Liv knew that everyone had just received a copy of her will and he would be looking everywhere to find her.

"Alright, Ms. Pope, the gang's all here. Let's get this settled," Dr. Kessler announced.

Liv handed all her nurses, doctors, therapist, and everyone in the room a folder. "These are non-disclosure agreements I need all of you to sign. Things are about to happen soon and I cannot have people knowing that I am here. All of you that sign will be given a $500,000 reward for signing and a raise in salary, all tax free. Those of you that don't will be discredited, fired and wish to God that you were never born." She watched everyone sign the agreement and Dr. Kessler handed out the checks. "No matter what anyone asks or tells you, you are not to say a word about me being here. If someone asks if I am here, you tell them you haven't heard of someone named that and then find Dr. Kessler. No one is to accept any sort of bribe from anyone of information regarding me. Are we clear?"

Everyone agreed and then dismissed.

"It seems like a lot of work to stay hidden, Liv," Dr. Kessler stated. "What's the big deal if they find out?"

"Jason, no one can know. Absolutely no one. He can't find out or find me. And trust me; he's going to try his damnedest to find me. He can't know about the brain tumor." Olivia saw movement out of the corner of her eye and looked over towards the door. "Jason, Fitz isn't standing in the doorway right?"

"No, Liv, I'm sorry, he isn't," Jason said.

"Good, I really can't deal with that right now. I think I'll take my meds and lay down for a bit."

"Alright, I'll wake you when your dinner is ready," Dr. Kessler said before he left the room.

Jason Kessler had been friends with Olivia for many years. They met in college when they had the same class. He tried to ask her out several times and eventually she agreed but they both decided that being friends was much better for them. Through the years, he kept up with Olivia not just through the news but also in person on the holidays and birthdays.

Liv was falling asleep, just about to deep sleep when she felt a presence in the room. She rolled over and saw Fitz sitting next to her bed in the chair.

"Hey Livie," he told her. He sat still not moving, only watching her. "Feeling better?" Olivia didn't say anything knowing it was her hallucinations. "It was bitchy for you to leave right after he died. How could you leave me like that? You deserve this."

"You had so many other things going on. Why are you being so cruel? I am trying to get this fixed and come back to D.C. I never wanted to be gone this long. But it's going to be longer," Liv said.

"It doesn't matter anymore. You left without any warning. Maybe you should give me a warning that you're coming back so I can leave D.C. This tumor, you should keep it."

"Fitz please! You don't understand! I'm fixing myself so I can be better for you," Olivia yelled at her hallucinations causing her heart rate monitor to spike high.

"Olivia, you're perfect to me already, I don't need you. I don't want you."

"FITZ PLEASE DO NOT DO THIS!"

Dr. Kessler came running in to her room. "Olivia, listen to me! He's not here, I swear Liv." He pulled her chin to force her to look at him. "It's a hallucination, Fitz isn't actually here."

Olivia calmed down a bit, letting her heart rate go down to normal. "Okay, I know."

"Which Fitz was it this time?"

"The 'I'm a bitch' one. And I deserve the tumor."

"Remember Liv, he's not real. And no one deserves a brain tumor. Fitz would never say that to you. The real Fitz, he's not like that. You are going to get better and then you're going back to D.C. and you'll tell him everything. I'm on your side."

"Thanks Jason."


	4. One Person No Where To Be Found

Fitz and Cyrus tried to work their best on keeping the day to day meetings going but both were still very worried about Olivia. A week had passed since they realized that she was missing and started to look for her. So far, they'd had no luck.

"Mr. President," Tom interrupted their meeting, "there's something important for you."

"We'll resume this tomorrow," Fitz dismissed the group and headed back to his office. "What have you got?"

As he walked in the Oval, twenty people stood around waiting for him.

"Sir, every agency we have has been looking for Ms. Pope everywhere in the world. Ms. Pope is nowhere to be found. She seems to have fallen off the grid permanently. There is no trace of her on any surveillance, her credit cards, and team members. She's just vanished," the head of the secret service told him.

"Do you mean to tell me that 200 people have been looking for a week for one person and you come in here and tell me that she's not on the planet anymore?"

"Sir, I'm sor…"

"That's unacceptable. I have the secret service, NSA, CIA, FBI, Homeland Security, Army, Navy, Air Force, National Guard, and some other very scary people looking for ONE PERSON and no one can find her?"

"Mr. President," Cyrus stopped him. "I know that they are doing everything that they can to find her. I want her back here as much as you do. Liv doesn't want to be found. She's disappeared herself."

Fitz ignored Cyrus's comments and continued with the people in front of him. "Add another team and find her. At least fifty more people. I want you searching all tapes of the airport, train stations, bus stations, taxis, anywhere that a person can travel through. Find her NOW!"

Without a second spared, everyone scurried out of the room leaving Fitz and Cyrus alone.

"Mr. President… Fitz," Cyrus started.

"I don't care if she doesn't want to be found. She doesn't get to just walk away without saying goodbye. And for all we know, she could be hurt, someone could have taken her, one of the countries that hates us could be torturing her, there's any number of possibilities that may have happened to her," Fitz said staring out the window.

Cyrus moved to stand beside him knowing that Fitz had been thinking about all of this all week. "You can't think like that. And you definitely can't say it out loud. Olivia is fine somewhere taking a vacation. An extended vacation, but she's going to come home. She's going to come back to us and be Olivia Pope. Saying what you just said, can't happen again. No one has taken her, no one is hurting her."

"We have her will, Cy. Something has to have happened to her. She wouldn't just send us a copy of her will if she was fine."

"Olivia has done many things that make us want to question it but we both know that whatever she was thinking, she did it in her right mind. Olivia Pope doesn't do anything without a plan. This was just part of whatever plan she is working on right now. You have to relax and let the team work on it. We are going to find her. And we will bring her back."

"Well, one of us has to think positive. Go home to Ella, Cy. I'll finish up here."

Fitz sat at his desk flipping through papers, reading them slowly and signing the ones he needed to. Every few minutes his mind would go back to Liv. He couldn't get the idea of someone hurting her out of his head. He should be there to protect her. He had to safe her even from herself.

He finished his papers and got ready to go up to the Residence for the night when someone burst through the Oval door.

"MR. PRESIDENT!" the man yelled coming in. Tom and Daniel rushed in after him grabbing the man and holding him back.

"What the hell is going on?" Fitz demanded to know.

"Sir, I have information, I found something!" he yelled.

"What did you find?"

"About Olivia Pope!"

Fitz told the agents to let him go and ushered the man further in. "What's your name?"

"Michael, Sir."

"Well, Michael, what did you find?" He handed Fitz the folder and flipped it open.

"Sir, I've found her. I've found Ms. Pope."

Fitz read the information even had pictures from surveillance tapes of her. "Lauren!" He yelled for his assistant to come in.

"Yes, Mr. President."

"Get Cyrus on the phone, prepare Air Force One for takeoff, tell the pilot to be ready."

"Yes, sir."

"Michael, you did a good job. As soon as I get back here, you get a promotion."

Lauren came into the Oval and pressed the buttons on the phone and handed it to Fitz. "Mr. Beene, sir."

"Cyrus, they found her. Air Force One is taking off in twenty minutes. Are you coming with?"

"You go get her and bring her home. Let her know I'm kicking her ass the second I see her," Cyrus told him.

"Right after me, Cy. You handle things here and I'll be sure to bring her home."


	5. I'm Going To Die

Jason came in to Liv's hospital room and sat beside her as she watched the news. He knew better than to interrupt when she was watching.

"He seems to be doing a good job," Jason commented when the news turned to Fitz.

"He does well when he isn't sidetracked," Liv told him.

"He does his best when you're with him," he said a bit louder than anticipated.

"Jason, please. He's doing well. We're going to get me fixed and let him work. Fitz doesn't need to be bothered with my problems. He's recovering from his son's death without me just fine. I don't what to throw another bomb his way. He deserves better than me anyway. Fitz doesn't need my baggage."

"Your baggage? This tumor is not baggage. It's a problem that is being handled. Remember, we are going to get it out and get you better."

"It's a tumor that you bought yourself," Fitz said in the corner. Olivia turned to hear his voice.

"Jason, can we do anything about the hallucinations. He's back," Liv begged.

"This is what you get for Defiance. It's an even trade. This is what you deserve. You deserve a brain tumor after everything you've done. Defiance, leaving when I needed you, everything," Fitz said before he vanished.

"He's back and he's being very cruel."

"Liv, I'm sorry, we've got you on the best dosage without killing you. But I have some news for you."

"Good news I hope."

"Your tumor has shrunk a centimeter with the chemo. If we are able to keep it to shrink at the rate it's happening, we'll be able to operate in three weeks."

"Really?!" Olivia yelled. "Three more weeks!"

"Liv, don't get your hopes up. This happened last week too, remember? We're going to keep checking and pray that this helps."

"Fine, go finish work and come back. I already talked to Amy; I get to steal you away for dinner tonight. But she insists I have lunch with her tomorrow."

"Great, my wife and my best friend conversing, this ought to be great for me."

"Jason, don't be silly; I talk to Amy every day."

Jason left to finish his rounds while Liv got dressed. She looked like herself from head to toe. A stranger could walk up to her and never notice that she was sick. She still had her hair, her weight was the same, eating habits were a bit down but who measured her food intake? She slipped on a pair of jeans and tank top with flip flops and grabbed her jacket. Liv sat on the bed waiting for Jason to come back.

"Do I have to take this monitor with me?" she asked when he showed up.

"No since you're with me, I think you'll be okay." Jason turned off her heart rate monitor and unattached it from her. "So where would you like to have dinner today?"

Liv grabbed her purse and set out with Jason to the café a block away. It was a beautiful day so they opted to go outside and eat.

"Red wine please?" Olivia asked the waitress.

"No! No alcohol for you; two waters please," Jason addressed the waitress.

"You're no fun," she smirked. After the waitress came with their water and got their orders she left them alone.

Liv zipped up her jacket and crossed her arms. "Cold?"

"Not too bad, I've gotten used to the temperature in the room." Both stayed quiet for a few minutes. "It's going to kill me isn't it?"

"Olivia, we're doing everything we can. You aren't going to die. Shit, you're Olivia Pope, you cannot die. People count on you. You have the best people in the world working on getting you healthy. Everyone is devoted to getting your tumor gone. You will not die, I promise."

"We don't make promises. Doctors especially, do not make promises. And even so, there is every chance that I'm going to die from this. I won't be able to do everything I wanted to do in my life. Fitz will always think of me as the cold hearted bitch that left him after his son died. He'll never forgive me and I won't have the chance to apologize for anything I've ever done. We fight, everyone fights, but we fight and I've never apologized for it. He apologizes all the time for the most meaningless shit ever. This brain tumor is going to kill me."

"I don't want to hear you say that again," Jason scolded her.

"Stop thinking like a doctor for a minute. Think as my friend. Think like the guy I met in college. I'm going to die, right?"

Jason sat quiet for a minute not wanting to say anything. "As the guy in college, yeah, more than likely you will die. You don't have the best odds. As the doctor, no, you won't die; I'm doing everything I can to make sure you don't die."

"Jason, as the only friend I have left, please?"

"Yes, Liv, you will probably die."

Olivia stood up and moved towards Jason bending over she kissed his lips quick like she always had.

As Olivia stood up she heard Fitz, "Olivia?"


	6. Fitz Is Really Here

Fitz was in the limo with his agents when he saw her. He told the driver to stop and pull over. For a few minutes he watched her talk with the man across the table. She looked sad, nearly depressed to him. He got out of the car and started towards the café. Fitz watched her stand up and kiss the man on the lips. Immediately, he was jealous. Fitz hated to see her with other men, even when they we together.

"Olivia?" he said making his presence known.

Olivia stood up straight like a statue when she heard his voice. She looked around and finally laid eyes on him.

"Please not in public," she muttered. "Jason, he's here." Liv sat down across the table from her doctor and took a drink of water. "In public, he's here." She dug through her purse finding a twenty dollar bill and laying it on the table. "Let's go. I thought I'd be fine in public tonight but having hallucinations are not the greatest," she whispered.

"Liv," Jason started.

"I'm sorry about dinner, just take me back and we can have something from the cafeteria."

"Olivia," Fitz yelled her name walking closer to her.

"Liv, relax," Jason demanded. He could tell her heart rate was getting higher. He saw Fitz coming closer to them visibly angry. Jason bent down in front of her handing her the water. "Drink this and breathe. Don't freak out, Liv. Fitz is really here. You control your breathing and sit here." When he got Olivia settled he stood up and turned to Fitz. "Mr. President, it's an honor to meet you," he greeted holding out his hand.

"Who the hell are you?" Fitz questioned angrily.

"Jason Kessler, sir. I'm Olivia's…"

"I don't give a fuck who you are. Move or my agents will remove you."

"Sir, I should…"

"Should move." Fitz took a step closer to him and held his ground. After a few moments, Jason stepped to the side letting Fitz clearly see Olivia. "I don't know what the hell you were thinking, but we'll discuss it on the plane. Get your purse, we're leaving." Olivia sat still not moving a muscle. "Now."

Liv moved fast at his tone, grabbing her purse and standing up. "Can… Fitz, can you just, just give me a minute please?"

"To say goodbye to a fuck buddy? No, now."

Olivia gave him a stern look. "That's rather rude, seeing that you just arrived and know nothing."

"And you left a month ago, Mr. Kessler, goodbye." Fitz bent down and tossed Olivia over his shoulder carrying her away.

"PUT ME DOWN! I'm not a child, I can walk!"

"You're acting like a child that ran away from home. Now I'm going to make sure that you get home and stay in your room," Fitz said loud enough for her to hear.

"You cannot take me back there, not back to D.C. Not yet."

"You never should have left. We'll talk about this on the plane."

Fitz put her in the limo beside him and told the driver to go back to the airport. Fitz got out of the car expectantly waiting for Liv to do the same when they arrived. When she didn't, he grabbed her wrist and pulled her out, taking her up the stairs.

"Fitz, I can't leave here," Liv told him quietly.

She could tell he was pissed off about, probably, everything she'd done lately. "You are leaving here. You're going back to D.C. and continuing with what you are supposed to be doing."

When the pilot announced that they could move around, Liv unhooked her seat belt and headed to the bathroom with her purse. She closed the door and dug through her bag looking for her pills while she called Jason.

"Liv? Are you okay?" Jason asked when he saw it was her.

"I'm fine. I'm on Air Force One, apparently heading back to D.C. I just took my pills for the night, but the time change is going to be different so I'm not sure when I need to take them."

"You really should not be flying in your condition. I'll send you a text with the times. There is no way you can just walk away, can you?"

"Not from 30,000 feet. And if this helps him, I should do it. I left him alone and now he wants to say things. I want him to have the chance to tell me before I die. Fitz will be just fine after he says his peace. So I'm going to sit there like a good girl and listen to everything he has to say without arguing. I just hope I don't get confused with the hallucination one and the real one."

"Are you seeing the hallucination now?"

"Yup; he's standing behind me in the mirror. He seems to be the happy Fitz though. I'm sure I will be fine. I'll keep you posted on when I'm coming back."

"Good, the sooner the better. Love you, Liv."

"Love ya, Jason." Olivia hung up the phone and stepped out of the bathroom.

"Anything to get to your fuck buddy, huh?" Fitz asked.

"He's not that, he's a friend."

"A friend with benefits. I saw you with him."

"You misinterpreted what you saw."

Fitz stared at her for several moments. "I know he's not that, Livie," her hallucination said on the other side. "He's trying to help you, and bring you back to me. For that, I owe him. I love you, Livie."

"And I love you Fitz," Olivia said looking at her hallucination as he vanished.

"Really, I never would have guessed that. With all the times you run and want me to let you go, I sincerely don't think you do. If you did, you wouldn't have left me right after my son died. And you go to some fucking island to what? Screw everything that moves?"

Olivia started to walk away towards the meeting room with Fitz just a couple steps behind her. He closed the door and turned back to face her. "Whatever you've got, dish it; I deserve it. I know what I've done. But let me just say that I am sorry, for everything."

Fitz put his hands in his pockets watching as she sat down at the table. "You're sorry? That's all you have to say? You left Olivia, at a very crucial time that I needed you. Jerry died and you left the country right after. After I told you that it had nothing to do with you, that it was your parents. Eli and Maya did this to my son. I never should have helped you get her out of the country. She killed people after that, that's on me now. I can live with that. And Eli, I put him back in Command and he's saving the Republic. How is it that you just disappear off the face of the planet without anyone knowing where you are? I've had 253 people searching for you for a week and they still weren't able to track you. I don't even know how that Michael kid did track you down but thank God he did. Have you even been protecting yourself with every guy you fuck? How many have you fucked since you left? Tell me!"

"Fitz, I swear I didn't. I haven't had anyone since you. Jason is just a friend."

"I don't believe you. You were pretty damn cozy with him at that café. Why should I believe that you weren't screwing him?"

"You just have to trust me. Please, Fitz? You and I both know that there's no one else. There never has been."

"Edison and Jake."

"Fair enough, but that was long ago. That was different." Olivia bit her tongue to keep from bringing up Amanda and Mellie.

"Not really. You want me to trust you through and through but you show that I can't. You helped rig an election, you lie, you keep secrets, and you are constantly leaving me! How am I supposed to trust you?"

Olivia shook her head trying not to get worked up. "It's okay, sweet baby, don't get upset. I'm sorry I'm being so awful to you. I just want to protect you," her hallucination informed her.

"WOULD YOU ALL SHUT UP!" Olivia yelled. Both Fitz and the hallucination where talking at the same time, confusing her.

"Olivia, there's no one here but me and you."

"This is part of what you deserve. It's the tumor destroying you. It's going to make you tell me," the hallucination Fitz said.

"JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!"

As Fitz was about to say something, the pilot said they were ready to land.

When they got off Air Force One, Fitz took her to Marine one and landed on the South Lawn at the White House. As they stepped off, Cyrus stood waiting for them. Tightly, Fitz grabbed her wrist and pulled her behind him not letting go until she was in front of Cyrus.

"Where the hell have you been?"


	7. Does Olivia Love You?

"Where the hell have you been?" Cyrus yelled at her.

"Can we discuss this later please?" Olivia asked her.

"You bet your ass we will," he told her, "we have a meeting to get to, Sir."

Fitz told Tom to take Liv up to the Residence and not let her out of his sight. He followed Cyrus to the meeting with the joint chiefs and let Olivia go.

Tom followed Liv up to the Residence. "Are you hungry Ms. Pope? I can get the cook to prepare something if you like."

"That'd be great Tom," she replied. Liv looked around the Residence noting that there was no sign of anyone else. "Tom, where is Mellie and the kids?"

"I'm not at liberty to say, ma'am. The President wanted to talk to you about that himself."

"Oh; I need to make a call real quick then I'll eat something." Liv stepped into the hall calling Jason but got his voicemail. "We've landed and I'm in the White House. I'm getting something to eat so stop worrying. I'll call you when I can."

Olivia ate her fruit and sat in the living room with Tom reading the paper for several hours before Fitz and Cyrus came in.

"Thanks Tom, we need to speak to her alone," Fitz announced on arrival. He took the paper out of her hands and sat across from her staring at her intently.

Minutes passed before she opened her mouth, "are you going to say anything?"

Before Fitz could answer, Cyrus jumped in. "We thought the worst. For a week we didn't know where you were, if you were safe, if you were hurt. You should have told us you were going on vacation."

"Oh no, Cy, not a vacation. More like a trip to fuck a friend," Fitz commented.

Olivia sat quietly deciding if she should correct him. "I've told you, it wasn't like that. Jason is a friend. That's all he is." She wanted to say more, throw words in his face but knew she had no right to do that.

"A friend with lots of benefits the way it looks."

"Livie, just say it out loud, say it and I'll shut up. I'll hold you and tell you everything is going to be fine. I'll make everything fine," her hallucination said putting his arm behind her on the couch.

"But it won't be fine," she whispered. "You'll worry and then you'll leave."

Cyrus stared at her as she looked at air, speaking low. "We thought you were dead. How can you leave without a warning? Without a heads up that you were going out of the country? And you knew what he was going through. That's not fair Olivia. That's no being Olivia Pope. That's running."

"You weren't running, Livie. I know you weren't. I know you needed his help. Dr. Kessler has been great for you. He's your friend and your doctor. He's what you needed. Even though I needed you," her hallucination told her.

"It's what she's good at, Cy. Olivia likes to run when things get tough. When it's too much for her, she runs away like a coward," Fitz said while her hallucination spoke.

"Please just all of you shut up!" Liv yelled.

Fitz and Cyrus watched her closely as she leaned forward and put her head in her hands. What to do? She couldn't tell them she was sick, it wasn't the right time. She would tell them after she was healthy or after she died. But she could tell them, but it would get her sympathy. And if Olivia hated anything more than lying, it was sympathy. She stood up and started to head towards the door.

"I need to…"

"Go ahead," Fitz started. "Call your fuck buddy, I'm sure he misses you already."

Olivia whipped her head back to Fitz nearly losing her balance. She grabbed the back of the chair and gritted her teeth. "Do NOT EVER call Jason that AGAIN Fitzgerald. You can say all the shit you want about me, but don't you ever say another bad thing about him."

Both men were a bit shocked at her tone. Cyrus took a step back while Fitz moved in front of her. Neither of them had ever heard her speak like that.

"You are acting like a fucking whore. Sleeping around, kissing men and God knows what else while you are needed here. And not just for me, but for your team, for this city. This Olivia Pope, this isn't her. This is a slut. This is a whore who will give it up to anyone who looks at her."

Fitz turned his back to her heading towards his office. "Am I free to go now?" she called after him.

"NO."

Liv unsteadily went to one of the guest bedrooms with Cyrus a few steps behind her. When she went in and sat on the bed, he followed her and closed the door.

"You know he didn't mean that," Cyrus said. "He's just upset. He's been worried about you and then you look perfectly fine… it shook him."

"I know Cyrus. Do you hate me too? I wouldn't blame you."

"I don't hate you Liv. You just had us worried sick for a while. But now you're home safe and sound and ready to be Olivia Pope again."

"Sure, Cy. I'm going to lay down for a while. I'll see you later."

As soon as her head hit the pillow, she was asleep. Cyrus grabbed a blanket and covered her with before leaving her alone and going to find Fitz.

He went to the Oval and caught Fitz out in the Rose Garden. When Fitz heard footsteps he turned to see who it was, wishing it was Olivia.

"I was too harsh wasn't I? With Olivia? I went a step to far," Fitz said putting his hands in his pockets.

"As your friend or your chief of staff?"

"Friend."

"You went way too far with her. You called her a slut and a whore. In a way, I'm surprised you didn't call her a mistress as well. Whatever the reason she left was, she definitely didn't deserve what you just said to her. We both know that Olivia doesn't take vacations. She worries about everyone else, especially you. She wouldn't just abandon you when you were grieving without just cause. So we need to cut her some slack, because whatever is happened, she's going through something right now."

"Aren't you pissed that she just left without saying goodbye?"

"Of course, but what would you have done if she did say goodbye? Beg her to stay? She knew that you needed her."

"But she left anyway. When I saw her with that guy, kissing him, at the café on that island, I nearly lost my mind. I'm here grieving for my son, trying to comfort my daughter, my wife, helping Mellie coup with everything while she has Andrew and the woman that I love is on some God forsaken island screwing people."

"How do you know that she'd been screwing him? How do you know they weren't just friends?"

"Please, Cyrus, you should have seen the way she kissed him. The way that she was able to talk to him. It was like she replaced me with someone her age. I could have lost her for good if I didn't bring her back here."

"What if you already lost her? Have you thought of the possibility that she may not love you anymore? Maybe she loves this guy?"

"If Olivia didn't love me, she would have put up a fight when I dragged her back here. She would have done everything she could to force me to let her go."

"Doesn't that answer your own question? Does Olivia love you?"

Fitz smirked at the idea. "Well played Cyrus, well played."


	8. Which One Are You?

Fitz slowly made his way back to the Residence a little after ten that night. He wanted to talk to Liv but didn't really know what to say. He had to apologize for calling her those names, probably apologize for treating her the way he did. As he walked through the Residence, he noticed a bedroom door was open; he peaked around the corner to watch her for a minute while he decided if he wanted to go in and have a conversation with her now or wait until morning.

Olivia lay on the bed staring at the ceiling as she ran her fingers through her hair. The room was quiet, finally. In the past few hours she had heard more from Fitz her hallucination than she had in a week. He was pestering her about telling him the truth then went to being nice Fitz, then back and forth several times.

"Livie?" Fitz asked as he stepped into the room.

She made a loud sigh, annoyed, that what she thought was a hallucination, had returned for the hundredth time today. "Which one are you?"

"What?" he questioned not sure what she was asking.

"Which. One. Are. You. Are you the one who comes in and tells me everything is going to be fine or are you the one who comes in and tells me what a horrible person I am? Please don't be the one who says you wish you never met me, you've been here four times today. If you are the one who comes in here to comfort me, I don't need comforting. If you're the one who come in to yell, you've yelled at me nine times today. Made me cry, twice. Beg for forgiveness, once. The one who calls me names has been here five times and the one who tells me you'd be better off if I just died has been here six times. So whichever one you are, can we skip ahead to you vanishing? I'm tired and don't have the energy," Liv stated staring at the ceiling.

"What if I'm the real one?" Fitz asked needing a bit of clarification.

"It'd be great but since you aren't, and apparently won't be leaving soon, let's just get to whatever one you are and be done with it."

"I was awful to you this afternoon. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said any of those things."

"I deserved it. Fitz had every right to say those things and I'll let him continue to tell me whatever he wants to tell me while I still have time. If he wants to yell at me and all me horrible names then that's what will happen. I'd prefer he say it to my face anyway; it's better than saying it behind my back."

"Livie, what are you talking about time?"

"Oh please, like you don't know I'm dying. Every single Fitz that comes in here knows that. Let's not play dumb here."

"Olivia, are you saying you have hallucinations?"

"You are a hallucination. You aren't real."

"How do you know?"

"I just do. The real Fitz is pissed off and ignoring me. He's down in the Oval working."

"Maybe you should call down to Lauren and see if I'm down there."

Liv sat up on the bed and stared at him for a minute. "Do NOT mess with me. You are a hallucination. A side effect of me dying. YOU ARE NOT REAL!"

Fitz went over to the door, "Tom, come in here please."

"Yes Mr. President," Tom said stepping in the room.

"You can see me right?"

Tom looked a little puzzled at him. "Tom, can you see the President," Liv asked.

"Yes Ms. Pope. I can see him." Tom put his hand on Fitz's shoulder. "And touch him."

"Thank you Tom," Fitz said dismissing him.

Olivia lay back on the bed looking at the ceiling. Fitz closed the bedroom door and moved to the other side of the bed lying beside her.

"Livie, I need…"

"Don't. Just don't okay? I want you to yell at me. Say what you want and let it go."

"You're dying?"

"No."

"You just told me five times that you were dying. Which one is it?"

"Fitz, please, I'm a slut and a whore remember? Let's just go with that. We'll leave it there. Yell at me for leaving you. Scream because I run away. Call me names to make yourself feel better. Whatever you want to do. Just don't be nice to me; I don't deserve it."

Fitz moved on his side to look at her. "You don't deserve me calling you names or me screaming or yelling at you. I should never have called you names like that. I have no proof as to what you were doing on that island or who you were doing if anyone. Livie, tell me how to fix this and I'll do it. Just tell me what I can do."

"There's nothing you can do. I need you to yell at me. I need you to tell me you hate me."

"I can't do that. It's not true. And I won't yell at you."

Olivia decided it was time to change the subject. "Where are Mellie and the kids?"

"Mellie moved out. About a week after Jerry's funeral she couldn't take being around me anymore. So she took Karen and Teddy to California to live with her and Andrew. They're adjusting well to life there. Karen is glad to be home with her friends and Mellie is happy to be with Andrew."

"And you?"

"I'm getting adjusted. It's nice to come up here and not be yelled at every day. Or having someone barge into my office and start screaming. Cyrus and I have been keeping busy with everything. But we've missed you. I thought you were just trying to give me space to heal. Space I didn't want but I understood. I know you think I blame you for his death but I don't. it wasn't your fault. Maya did this and she will pay. And not just for Jerry's death but for all the others as well."

"She should. Everyone deserves justice. She needs to pay for what she has done." Olivia stopped talking trying to find her words; lately it was becoming hard to put a sentence together. "I want you to be happy Fitz. Even if it's not with me, I need you to be happy."

"You're the only thing that makes me happy Liv. By now, I thought you would know that."

"I know but you can't rely on me all the time. Like now, things happen and I won't be here."

"Why do you keep saying this? What is going on with you that you're going to die? I won't let you die."

As Fitz talked, Liv's cell phone started to ring. She grabbed it off the nightstand seeing it was Jason. "I have to take this Fitz. I'll be right back," she said getting out of bed.

"Olivia, come on," Fitz said as she answered the phone.

"One second," she told Jason. Liv started to walk to the bathroom connected to the bedroom but was having difficulty taking each step.

"Liv?" Fitz asked watching her.

It took her another minute, but she made it to the bathroom and closed the door. "Jason, how's it going?"

"I should be asking you that. How are you feeling?"

"Nauseas, dizzy, I have a headache, I can't walk right, and I've been in bed all day. Other than that, I'm doing great. How's Amy?"

"Worried about you like I am. And the rest of the staff here. You should have fought him, Liv. I know you love him and want him to have peace but you really do need to be here. You're sick and need help. If he's so worried about you, he should have left you here with me. He can't just frisk you away to D.C. against your will."

"Jason, if I was better don't you think I'd fight? I don't have energy to fight him. And I have even bigger problems now."

"What problems?"

"He knows I'm hallucinating. I thought I was talking to another hallucination but I wasn't. He also knows I'm dying."

"Liv, I won't let you die. Would you please restrain yourself from saying that? You are not going to die."

"But I am. I'm going to die and that will be it."

"You're thinking negative again. Stay positive."

"Jason, there's no point. I'm tired of fighting already. It's going to kill me eventually. I might as well let it be now. Save everyone the time and money."

"If you don't stop saying that, I will fly up there and bring you back here myself and keep you under lock and key until this brain tumor is gone. Are we understood, Olivia?"

Liv let out a deep breath. "Yes, Sir. I should go."

"Alright, just tell him Liv, both of you will feel better and he can help you. Have a good night and call me tomorrow."

Liv hung up the phone and went back out to the bedroom. "How are you dying?"


	9. How Are You Dying?

While Olivia was on the phone in the bathroom, Fitz went through her purse. He had her medications in his hands as he stood on the other side of the bed reading the labels.

"How are you dying?" he asked her again after a minute of silence. "There are high dosages. And heavy drugs for someone your size."

"Thanks, I think. What are you doing in my things?" she questioned.

"Trying to figure out what is wrong with you. Tell me, Livie. What's happening to you?"

"Nothing, I'm fine. Don't worry about me. You have a country to run. You should go meet with your chief of… of…" Liv stuttered unable to think of the word.

Both were quiet while she tried to think of the word she wanted. "Of staff? Cyrus? It's nearly eleven at night. Cyrus is home with Ella."

"Right, I know that. Cyrus is home with our… our…"

"Goddaughter. Olivia, what is wrong with you?"

"I know what I'm trying to say, Fitz. Don't keep interrupting me please."

Fitz held up the bottles of pills. "Either you tell me what the hell is going on or I'll flush them. Take your pick." Olivia didn't believe he would do it as she kept her mouth shut. "Fine," he said moving around the bed towards the bathroom.

"Fitz, don't!" Olivia yelled at him as he made his way towards the toilet to dump the pills. Just before he made it to the bathroom door Liv grabbed his arm trying to stop him but he kept moving. "Fitz I need those!"

"Obviously you don't. You aren't dying and you look pretty damn healthy so you don't need these. I'm just going to get rid of them."

Liv tried to take the pill bottles out of his hand but he had already dumped her medication for headaches in. Quickly, she grabbed the other bottles from him and threw them on the floor behind her. She fell to the floor as he went to grab them and fished out the pills in the toilet.

"Olivia, what the hell is wrong with you!" Fitz pulled her off the floor and set her on the counter in front of him. "Why do you need those so badly that you're getting them out of the toilet?" he asked as he put his arms on either side of her legs trapping her in.

"Let it go, Fitz. I need you to trust me for just this once. Please just trust me."

"You sent me your will. You sent Cyrus and me your will. How am I supposed to trust you when you do that and then tell me you aren't dying? You put everything in my name with the exception of OPA but I'm getting the majority of that. I don't know how to run that. I don't do what you do, Liv. I'm not good for that."

"Fitz, we can discuss all that later please. I'm tired and I want to go to sleep. Come on and sleep in bed with me. I promise we can talk about this tomorrow."

"You know I won't give up on this right?"

"I know, but give up on it tonight."

Liv leaned in and kissed him as she scooted off the counter to pick up her pills. She took the ones she needed and went to lay down while Fitz changed for bed.

He changed into his pajamas and went into bed lying next to her. Without hesitation, Liv moved in against him and wrapped his arm around her falling asleep quick.


	10. I'll Use My Sources

Fitz woke up earlier than Olivia did the next morning. He came up with an idea to make her tell him the truth but would need some help. He lightly kissed her cheek and made his way to his bedroom to get dressed.

After breakfast, Fitz went down to Cyrus's office.

"Morning, Mr. President," Cyrus said greeting him. "You're not dressed for work."

"No, Cy, we aren't working today. I need your help. Olivia has a secret and I need you to help me pry it out of her."

"Dirty little secrets always come out. Liv wouldn't have a secret."

"She's dying," Fitz stated sitting down. He watched Cyrus's face turn pale as Cyrus sat down. "She won't tell me from what. She told me last night. Although she thought she was telling the hallucination me. I had to have Tom come in and convince her that I was real. Apparently, there are multiples of me. And I can be quite an ass from what she said. She has a purse full of medication that she says she needs. I dumped one bottle in the toilet last night and she actually fished them out. They're quite strong meds too. Liv's hiding something. I need to know what it is."

"IF Olivia was dying, don't you think she'd already tell you? Maybe she isn't sick? Perhaps it's a way to get you back."

"No, she's pushing me away."

"Isn't that how you two play this game of cat and mouse? The two of you are pretty messed up about your relationship."

"Are you going to help me or not?"

"Fine, I'll help you."

Olivia woke up to a cold bed knowing Fitz was down in the Oval working. She got out of bed getting dressed and went to find breakfast for herself.

"Good morning, Olivia," Fitz greeted her as she walked past the living room.

Unsure if he was a hallucination, she went over and touched his shoulder. "Hi," she greeted both men. Liv knew what Fitz was doing bringing Cyrus up to the Residence. "Well played, Fitz. I'd like to get breakfast and take my medication before we start the yelling if that's alright with you."

"Fine, be quick about it."

Olivia went to the kitchen finding cereal and taking her meds before going back to the living room.

"Cyrus, I'm sorry Fitz brought you up here for no reason. He seems to think I'm dying," Liv told him.

"You said you were dying, and then you took it back. Which to me means that you are hiding something that is important for me to know about," Fitz commented.

Cyrus looked between the two staring the other down. "Liv, if you are sick we can find you help. If you need therapy or a surgery, we will find the best people to do it. Tell us and we'll fix this."

"Cyrus, I'm not sick. I'm perfectly fine."

"Then why all the medication?"

"Those are nothing."

"Really? You threw a fit last night when I tried to flush them. They seem pretty damn important," Fitz threw.

"Livie," she heard her hallucination behind Cyrus. "Just tell me. I can help you get through this. You know I won't be mad, maybe a bit hurt but not angry with you. Tell me how to fix it and I will."

"If you are going to play hardball, Liv, you know I'll find out. I'll put every agency I can think of on the quest to find out what is going on. It may take a week but I will find out. Why don't you just make it easier on all of us and tell us," Cyrus added.

"That would be a waste of everyone's time since there is nothing there to find. No one will find anything because they won't know where to look because there is nowhere to look. Let this go, both of you," she demanded.

She stood up ready to leave the room and stood behind the chair she sat in as her hallucination spoke. "You know I'll find it. As President I can find many things. Dirty little secrets always come out, remember? You need to tell me. Say it out loud, it's already real. You are going to die. At least have the decency to tell me so I can spend time with you before your dead. I don't want to walk into a room and see your body lying there and I can't help you. Dr. Kessler isn't here, Liv."

"Whose fault is that?" Liv asked the hallucination Fitz.

Cyrus was confused and Fitz could see it on his face. "Olivia?" Cyrus tried to pull her out of it.

"You never should have left. I needed you and you left the country. Liv, you never said a word about leaving. My son just died and you vanished. I can't let you do that again. I can't let you die and not tell me," fake Fitz yelled.

"But I'm going to die. Don't you get that! There's nothing no one can do," Liv yelled back.

"You won't die if you tell me what's going on. Say it out loud and tell me what you need, tell me why you left, why you needed to go there."

"Don't make me do that."

"Livie, you're being difficult. You're only making it so much easier on my life if you were dead," her hallucination told her sternly.

"Please, please don't say that. I know it's true but I can't listen to you say that."

Cyrus and Fitz sat watching her have a conversation with the air, unsure of what to do. They couldn't do anything to help her if they didn't know what was going on.

"But it's true," fake Fitz said. "My life, my Presidency, it would be so much easier if you were gone. Let it kill you. You're determined to die anyway, just do it then. Make it easier for both of us to say goodbye. You don't care about me anyway. If you did you'd tell me what the hell is wrong with you. So let it kill you. I want you to live so much but it's not going to be easy watching you die. I need you to fight for me and live."

"This brain tumor is going to kill me!"


	11. All You Do Is Walk Away

"This brain tumor is going to kill me!" Olivia yelled to her hallucination making Fitz and Cyrus whip their heads in her direction. "I'll die from this and all you want to do is yell at me? That's so fair!" She tried to stare down her hallucination but he vanished. "That's fine, all you ever do is walk away." Liv looked around feeling their eyes on her. "Shit," she whispered.

Cyrus and Fitz stared at her not able to believe what she said. Cyrus wasn't sure if he should run and hug her or start finding the best brain surgeon possible for her. He wasn't going to let her die, not if he had anything to do about it.

Fitz started to tear up looking at her, begging the tears not to fall. He wanted to pull her to him and never let go but knew she'd only push him away. "Why…why did you leave if you knew you had that?" he asked.

"It's why I left," Liv mumbled.

"What?" Cyrus asked.

"The tumor is the reason I left D.C.," she said again.

Fitz wiped his eyes clearing the tears and left the room going to the Oval.

"Why would you leave?" Cyrus asked her trying to gauge her mental status.

"For the same reason any of us here do things, Cy. To make him a better President. Isn't that what we all do? We march behind him; we make everything we can easier for him. It's what I was trying to do. I'm going to die; there's nothing he can do about it. I don't want him to sit around and watch me grow to nothing. Every day I lose my ability to do something. Lately it's been my words and walking. I have a hard time with that. When he came to the island to find me, I knew I had to let him get it out of his system. So I was going to let him yell at me, do whatever he wanted to do so he could move on. I never thought Mellie would leave him here alone. It's too much for him to take. You saw him just now, he left. He walked away. I don't blame him. You should walk away too, Cy. I'm not going to let the two of you watch me dwindle to nothing and die. It's not fair to you."

"No, Olivia. What's not fair is that you won't let us say a proper goodbye if you were going to die. But you aren't going to die. We are going to find you the best place possible and get all the help you need."

"Do you think I went to that island for a fun vacation? When do I take vacations?"

"You don't."

"Exactly. I went to the island because my best friend lives there. He's a neurosurgeon who knows how to do these things. He's the best. I trust him with my life, which right now is in his hands. Jason is pissed that I left the island when I did. I'm supposed to be having chemo again in the next few days but Fitz brought me back here. I know he's mad at me. But he just walked away. Jason is going to operate soon; him and his team are nearly 99 percent sure that they can remove the tumor and never have to go back in."

"But? I can hear there's a but in there."

"But there's a 90 percent chance I will die."

"Then you can't have the surgery. I simply won't let you do it, Liv. There's too much to live for. If you won't do it for me, do it for Fitz."

"Cyrus, if I don't have the surgery, I'll die anyway. Ten percent is the best chance I can get. I'm going to take it. The tumor will never fully disappear on its own. Jason is going to cut my skull open and take it out. All of it if he can. I trust him with that. I die if I don't the surgery and I more than likely die if I do. It's a catch 22. Operating is my best bet. Which one are you going to bet on?"

He thought about it for a minute. "Have you had second opinions?"

"I've had ten opinions. Each of them says that I will die if I don't get the surgery. I'm trying my best here, for both of you. Do you think I really want to die and leave him? Leave you? That's the last thing I want to do but I'm not being given much of a choice here."

Cyrus nodded knowing what she was saying was true. Olivia would never leave her team willingly. "What do you need?" he asked walking up to her.

Liv thought for a minute attempting to wrangle her thoughts in. "I need Fitz to understand that I'm trying to live. He has to understand that I'm fighting with everything in me. I need to get back to the island and let Jason work. Fitz needs to know that Jason is only a friend. We've never had sex or anything like that. He's a friend from college that is trying to save me. So instead of yelling at him and calling him names, he should leave him to his own devices and let him work. But right now, I need a flight back to the island, and I need to take my medications and lay down."

"I will work on Fitz. He's already cleared his whole day to work it out of you as to you being sick. Honestly, I thought it was going to take a bit longer. I'll get Air Force One ready to go and let you know when takeoff is. You go take care of yourself." Cyrus gave her a tight hug and sent her off to the bedroom.

Fitz went down to the Oval throwing a tantrum. He smashed things around on his desk, threw things to the floor and yelled at anyone who walked in.

"Why the hell isn't my daily briefing on my desk, Lauren?" Fitz screamed at her through the door.

As she was about to go in, Cyrus took the brief from her and went in before her, saving her.

"About damn time it shows up," Fitz scolded Cyrus.

"You need to stop this, Fitz. I understand that you're mad and hurt but you have to pull it together. Pull it together for her," Cyrus commented throwing the brief across the room away from him.

"We have work to do."

"No, you've canceled the day. So, you are going to help the woman that you love and get her healthy. Neither of us can lose her and we damn near are close to it. Work through this with her. Help her with anything she needs because you know that she would do the same for you. She has been by your side every step of the way. Even when you pushed her away she was always there to keep you steady. Olivia needs your help now. You owe her this. And I know I'm sounding very judgmental right now but you have to pull your head out of your ass and realize that she is scared to death."

"She left Cyrus. Olivia doesn't care about how either one of us feel. She didn't tell us that she was sick, that she's dying. Olivia left the country without a word. How do you feel about all of this? She didn't tell you either."

Cyrus took the seat next to the desk and started. "I'm a bit upset but there's nothing I can do about that. I wish she'd have told me sooner that she was sick but I'm not going to hold it against her. Olivia may very well die from this. Are you willing to be angry at her if she does die? Are you going to hold this against her forever? She feels guilty for not telling us, that much is obvious. Liv let you drag her back here to scream at her, yell, do whatever the hell you wanted to do because she feels that she deserves it. I don't contest that. She does deserve to be yelled at. She had absolutely no right to deny either of us the opportunity to say goodbye had she died already. But are you willing to yell at a woman who loves you more than life that has a brain tumor?"

Fitz listened to every word that Cyrus said. "If Olivia wasn't sick, we both know that she would have fought me bringing her back to D.C. against her will. That's the guilt showing because she didn't fight."

"Liv has done many things that make everyone question her, but she always has a game plan. Her team would follow her over a cliff just like you would. Air Force One is taking off in one hour to return her to the island. Her doctor will meet you both at the airport and take you back to the hospital. Lauren is packing your suitcase now."

"Who said I was going?"

"This is Olivia Pope we are talking about. You and I both know you'd follow her to the moon and back."


	12. Are You Coming Or Not?

Cyrus walked Liv out to the plane, hugging her goodbye and watched her go up the steps to board the plane. When she reached the top she gave Cyrus a small smile and wave. She was a little disappointed that she didn't get to say goodbye to Fitz. The flight attendant took her bags and set them in the storage area.

Liv started back down the stairs. Meeting Cyrus at the end.

"What are you doing, Liv?" Cyrus asked her.

"I need to talk to Fitz. I just want to say goodbye. I don't want him to be angry with me at this time. There's every possibility that I'll die and I don't really want him angry with me," Liv replied.

She started towards the car wanting to go back to the White House and run to Fitz.

"ARE YOU COMING OR NOT?" Fitz yelled loud enough for her to hear.

Olivia turned around and saw Fitz standing at the top of the stairs leaning against the door frame to the plane. Without hesitation, Liv ran up the stairs, tripping several times, back up to him. Fitz pulled her tight to him, hugging her, never wanting to let go.

"I thought… you're supposed to be at the White House. I just want to say goodbye right this time. I'll make sure that Cyrus keeps you updated on what's going on. Thank you for letting me use the plane," Liv said hugging him.

"Are you finished?" Fitz waited for Liv to close her mouth. "Good, get ready, the pilot is ready for takeoff."

Liv went to a seat and put her seatbelt on and locked eyes with Fitz as he closed the door. "What are you doing?"

Fitz moved toward her and took the seat next to her. "I'm going with you."

"Fitz, you can't do that. You have to work, run the country, and take care of things. You have to…"

He leaned over and kissed her lips, keeping her quiet. "The only thing I have to do is go with you. You need me more than the country does right now. So, I'm going with you back to the hospital and am staying with you until you are so much better. Are we understood?"

"You have meetings and people to meet and dinners to attend and Congress. You can't just leave with your mistress to an island because she is sick. The country won't like it, and you'll… you'll start to hate me for you coming with me."

Fitz bent towards her and kissed her hard again. "Number five, you are NOT a mistress. Don't ever say that again. Number four, you're trying to push me away again and it's not going to happen so stop it. Three, I don't care what the country likes or doesn't like when it comes to you. You need me and I'm going to be by your side just like you have been by mine this whole time. Two, I will never hate you, not for anything. Just because I'm mad at you doesn't mean that I hate you. And one, I'm coming with you whether you like it or not. Cyrus and I have made plans to work this out. We are working together to make sure that I am with you for as long as possible through this. You aren't going to be alone, Livie. You have the backing of the White House to get you to recover."

"Did you seriously just give me a countdown?"

"Did you really think I wouldn't learn anything from the master?"

"Fine, I guess you can come with. But I don't want you fighting with Jason. He's my best friend and working his ass off for me."

"Not that I needed your permission, I thank you for your approval."

After several hours on the plane, they landed on the island meeting Jason at the end. Liv got off the plane first with Fitz following behind her a few steps. She went down the stairs and hugged Jason tightly making Fitz a bit jealous.

"Thank God you're back," Jason kissed her cheek. "We need to get you back to the hospital and run tests. Why is he here?" He asked when he noticed Fitz.

"Jason, he's coming to stay with me for a bit. The two of you haven't really been introduced properly. Jason Kessler, this is Fitz Grant, President. Fitz, Jason, my best friend, and hopefully life saver. Fitz is my… my…"

Fitz gave her a second trying to let her come up with the word. "I'm her boyfriend." He said shaking Jason's hand. "I apologize about our last encounter. Livie and I are, let's just say protective of the other."

Jason nodded and led them back to the waiting car heading back to the hospital.

"Shirley has been lost since you left, Liv. With you being the only one she takes care of she wasn't sure what to do. You paid everyone all that money and she wants to help you through this probably more than all of us put together."

"I'm sorry," Fitz jumped in, "who is Shirley and what money?" Liv's face started to heat as she sent a death glare to Jason. "I know that look; he said something he shouldn't have said."

"Liv, I thought you told him everything," Jason apologized.

"I didn't, obviously. Learn to keep your mouth shut," she barked at Jason. "Shirley is my nurse. She spends every day with me and then the night nurse comes in, Maddie. They are very sweet. I think you'll like them."

"You are intentionally not answering about the money, Livie. What's that about?" Fitz demanded to know.

Liv let out a loud sigh as they got to the hospital and Jason got out. "Everyone on staff who knows that I'm here signed a confidentiality agreement. No one was to know that I was here. All those who signed it received a very generous financial benefit."

Fitz pinched the bridge of his nose getting upset. "How much?"

"What?"

"How much did you pay?"

"Half a million."

"You paid half a million dollars to the hospital staff to not be found?"

"Please Fitz, don't be absurd. I spent 4 million dollars to not be found."

"YOU SPENT FOUR MILLION DOLLARS SO I WOULDN'T FIND YOU!"

"You're yelling," she whispered.

"Damn straight I'm yelling! Why the hell would you do something like that? You knew I'd find you eventually. Nothing you can do can stop my guys from finding you no matter how long it takes. That was the most absurd amount of money anyone could spend. How fucking selfish can you be Olivia! I don't even know how else to put that. You were denying everyone…"

"BRAIN TUMOR!" Olivia yelled at him.


	13. What Happens Now

"BRAIN TUMOR" Liv yelled at Fitz.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" he asked her.

Olivia rubbed her head trying to avoid a headache when her hallucination appeared across the limo from her. "I'm sorry," he said quietly. She popped her head up and stared at her hallucination. "Yelling is what I do. You and I know that."

Jason watched her face as she stared at the air. "He's here again?"

Liv nodded and closed her eyes leaning back and resting her head looking at the roof of the car.

"You're seeing two of me right now? Which one this time?" Fitz questioned.

"The apologetic one."

"I know you have a brain tumor, why are you yelling it?"

Olivia was silent for several minutes before Jason cut in. "In a way, it's a game we've been playing for a month. Liv calls brain tumor to win or make someone shut up. Like now, she called brain tumor, it means you can't yell at her."

"You can't yell at me because I have a brain tumor," Liv stated.

"That's low, Livie," Fitz smirked.

"It got you to shut up, didn't it?" she smiled at him. As she sat up her hallucination was gone.

"Liv used it last week when I wanted pizza and she wanted Chinese. She called brain tumor so we had to have Chinese," Jason added as the car stopped in front of the hospital. "I'll give you two a few minutes while I get her papers and a wheel chair."

"Thank you Jason. Will you also get our team rounded up to the room? We'll have to have a conversation with everyone now that he's here," she asked as he got out.

Jason closed the door behind him and let Fitz and Liv chat for a few minutes.

"What happens now?" Fitz asked unsure.

"Now, you have to be calm and charming like always. You'll go up to my room with me and meet the team. Then we will have a few minutes before I go for my tests. And while I'm getting my tests, you can get settled at the hotel. I've already booked you the top hotel room on the island. It's just a few blocks away. And you can come see me whenever you want," Liv told him.

"Livie, no. We can't be apart for this. I need to be near you when you have this. I want to be with you every step of the way for the rest of everything. I will help you decide if you want me to. But I can't go stay at a hotel and wonder if you're going to make it through the night. Please, don't make me go through that."

"You're only winning because I have no energy to fight you and my team signed confidentiality agreements. You can stay here with me, but I highly doubt you will want to. Maddie wakes me up every hour to check on things. I'm sure that will wake you too."

"Then I get woke up. It doesn't matter to me. As long as I'm near you, nothing else matters."

Liv opened the door and sat in the wheelchair that Jason brought. They went up to her room and her doctors and nurses were waiting for her. The second Liv got in the room, Shirley grabbed her and hugged her tight.

"I've been going insane here without you!" Shirley screamed.

"I missed you too!" Liv hugged her back. Fitz and Jason helped Liv into bed. Instead of a hospital bed now, they replaced it with a queen size bed that they could easily get her in and out of and was big enough for Fitz to sleep with her. "Well everyone, as you can see, President Grant is here. He will be staying with me for a while. Just in case we need to clear this up, President Grant, Fitz, is my… what did you call it, Fitz?"

"I'm her boyfriend," Fitz replied.

After a few awe's, Liv continued. "He falls under the confidentiality agreement you all signed as well. Fitz will also be here working with the White House on video conference and phone calls. Please let him do his job. Now that I'm back, I assume everyone wants to start poking me with needles again, right?"

Everyone laughed and Jason dismissed them. "First, you have an MRI scheduled. They're waiting for you down there."

"Good, Fitz can check in at the White House while we do that," Olivia smiled.

"Okay, you go have the MRI and I will call Cyrus and let him know we landed alright."

"Thank you, and please don't stress out my people. I know it's one thing that I'm here but it's a bit of an inconvenience for them to have me and my demands along with the secret service going through every inch of this floor. I'll see you in a bit."

Once Olivia was on the elevator Fitz took his phone out and called Cyrus.

"How is she?" Cyrus asked skipping the formalities.

"They just took her down for an MRI. She had a hallucination of me while I was sitting next to her in the car. Apparently now there's no way I'll ever be able to win a fight with her."

"You shouldn't be fighting with her anyway. But why's that?"

"She called brain tumor. I started yelling at her and she yelled brain tumor. Immediately, she wins because you can't fight a person who has a brain tumor."

"What! You yelled at her! She's sick you and yelled at her? What the hell Fitzgerald!"

"She spent four million dollars so that we wouldn't find her. She paid eight people half a million dollars each if they signed a confidentiality agreement to keep their mouths shut about her being in the hospital."

"But we found her anyway. Olivia is safe with you and the secret service. Nothing is going to happen to her."

"Except that she has a brain tumor and can more than likely die tonight."

Cyrus ground his teeth getting upset with Fitz. "Don't you ever, ever say that she is going to die again. Olivia is not going to die. We protect her and get her healthy and bring her back to us. We have to stick to the game plan and avoid all the side trips if possible."

"You're right; I don't know what I was thinking. Liv needs us and we need her. How are things going there?"

"Mellie has signed the divorce papers and your lawyer has filed them. She also left a message that she wanted to tell you in person that she and Andrew are getting married next summer. Also, Karen wants to go back to her school and be with her friends. Meetings are going well. No one has asked where you are after I told them it's none of their damn business. So far, everything is going alright. I'm thinking of coming to visit her this weekend with Ella to surprise Liv. What do you think?"

Fitz smiled hoping that she would be up to it. "I think that'd be great. I'll check with her doctor and see what he thinks and make sure she doesn't have anything big scheduled. I'm actually staying at the hospital with her. Her room is pretty nice. It's bigger than a normal hospital room; she's even got a queen bed in here."

"Living the life, I see. Alright, I have to get to this next meeting. Call me tonight after you talk to the doctor and I'll book the tickets."

"No need, I'll send Air Force One to get you. Bye Cy."

Fitz put his things in the closet of the room getting settled in as he waited for Liv to return. After a while Jason came up to the room without her. Fitz discussed Cyrus and Ella coming up and told him it was a surprise. Jason was a bit hesitant about it but didn't think it would be bad for them to come down.

Olivia returned to her room after Fitz had fallen asleep. She turned the news on quietly and got ready for bed.

"Hey, how'd it go?" Fitz asked when he felt the bed dip.

"We'll know more in the morning. I'm sorry I woke you up," she said moving into him. They got comfortable together and started to fall asleep. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about the tumor before I left after Jerry's funeral. I should have told you."

Fitz held her tight to him as he ran his hand along her arm feeling her IV. "It's okay, sweet baby. We'll make it through this together."


	14. Not Good News

Fitz woke up earlier than Liv giving him time to call Cyrus and check in at the White House. Just before Liv woke up Jason came in looking a bit disappointed.

"What's wrong?" Fitz asked guessing his mood.

"Not good news; is she awake?"

"Not yet, can it wait? I'd like to give her enough sleep as possible."

"Have her page me when she gets wakes up. I'm going to get everything ready," Jason said as he walked away.

Fitz climbed into bed pulling Liv close to him. Bad news wasn't something he wanted to hear so early. He thought he would have a bit more time with Liv before anything would happen but it seemed this was moving fast.

Olivia rolled over looking at Fitz, smiling as she was happy to see him. "Good morning, Mr. President. How's the rest of the world handling your absence?"

"Very well since they don't really know that I'm out of the White House."

Liv could tell by his tone that something was wrong. "You don't sound happy. Did Cyrus say something?"

"No, Cyrus is fine. Dr. Kessler needs you to page him. He said… he said it was bad news. I'm just worried for you, Livie."

"Jason knows what he's doing. He's going to help me if he can. I guess there's no use in stalling."

Olivia took out her phone and paged Jason. He showed up a few minutes later. Olivia didn't need to hear the words come out of Jason's mouth. "It's grown again, hasn't it?"

Jason pulled the chair next to the bed. "We have to go in soon. It's bigger than we thought. I've got our team setting up right now. We'll have to go in this afternoon. I'm so sorry Liv."

"It'll be fine, Jason. You go get the team ready and come get me when you're done," Liv stated.

Jason left the room leaving Fitz and Olivia alone. Liv curled herself into a ball on the bed wanting to bury herself under the covers. Fitz sat on the edge of the bed next to her waiting for her to say something.

"You can go. This isn't what you signed up for, I know that. No one ever signs up for the mistress with a brain tumor. You should go live your life Fitz. This is my end. I didn't want you to watch me die to begin with," she said holding back the tears.

"I'm not going anywhere," Fitz said pulling her to him. "I told you. We are in this together. Neither of us signed up for you having a brain tumor. And I didn't sign up for a mistress. I did sign up for the person that I love. The amazing, talented, beautiful, smart Olivia Pope is the only woman that I have ever truly loved with everything in. And I will love you for the rest of my life whether you are here or not. But I have faith that your best friend is going to save your life. I have hope that we are going to beat this. And I trust that you will not leave me as long as you can. I want us, Livie. I know that you're tired and don't really have the energy but I need you to fight to stay here. And, even though I know this won't happen, I will be right there with you. I will hold you until you take your last breath and then some. But I know that you aren't going to die. Because there was never really an 'us' together. And there has to be an 'us'. So as long as you can, I need you to fight and stay with me. And if yelling at you is going to make you stay longer, then that's what I'll do. I'll yell and scream until I have you in my arms for good."

Olivia started crying as she clung to Fitz. "I'm not ready to die. I have many things that I want to do before that happens."

After a while, Jason came back with her nurse Shirley to take her to the Operating Room. Fitz went down the hallway as far as he was allowed to go with her.

"I'll be outside waiting for you when they're done. Just remember to fight, Livie. Fight as long as you can and then some," Fitz demanded.

"As long as I can, Fitz. One minute?"

"One minute."

Jason and Shirley left them alone and gave them some privacy.

When the minute was over, Fitz kissed her lips and watched them take her in. When the door to the OR closed, he went to the waiting room and pulled out his phone.

"Cyrus, Air Force One is coming to get you and Ella now."


	15. How's Olivia?

It only took a few hours for Cyrus to land with Ella in tow on Air Force One. Fitz was getting impatient after a while. Dr. Kessler had been sending out a nurse every half hour to inform Fitz of Olivia's condition. It'd been nearly ninety minutes since the last update and he was getting worried.

"Fitz, how is she?" Cyrus said running in with Ella on his hip.

"The last update I got was that she was doing fine; they were just about to remove part of the tumor. But that was over an hour ago," he told him taking Ella. Fitz sat down with her on his lap, immediately calming down.

"She does have that effect on people. I'm sure her doctor will tell us soon."

As Ella started to count with Fitz, Dr. Kessler finally came out to greet them.

"How's Olivia? She's alive right?" Fitz nearly screamed across the waiting room to him.

"Olivia's in a drug induced coma. Her brain was starting to swell while we were in there. We've contained the majority of it. We've put her on oxygen to ensure that she is getting enough and the nurses are preparing her to go to her room. Shirley will stay with her for a while until Maddie gets here for her shift," Jason informed them.

"What about the tumor?" Cyrus questioned.

"We think we got all of it. We're going to do an MRI when she is more stable and we'll see if there is any damage. Olivia won't be awake for a while. Most likely, tomorrow we will bring her out of the coma and make sure that nothing went wrong. You three can go see her when we put her in her room but please keep it brief."

"Thank you, Dr. Kessler. I know Olivia will love to hear that you got all of it," Fitz said shaking his hand.

"And I can't wait to tell her."

After a few minutes, Fitz and Cyrus took Ella up to Olivia's room to stay with her for a bit. Fitz sat on the bed where he slept the night before and put Ella between them.

"Livia sleep?" Ella asked in her cute voice that no one could deny.

"That's right, Livia's asleep. She'll wake up tomorrow. And she's going to be so happy to see you," Fitz said quietly.

Cyrus took Olivia's hand and bent down whispering in her ear something that Fitz couldn't make out. Ella started singing the alphabet to Liv making both Fitz and Cyrus laugh.

"I'm sorry, Sir, Olivia should be alone for a while," Dr. Kessler told him.

"We'll go to the hotel and come back in the morning. It's almost Ella's bedtime anyway," Cyrus told Fitz as they walked out.

Fitz looked at Dr. Kessler before he left the room. "I'm staying with her tonight. She'll be fine, I promise."

Jason nodded and went to do his rounds.


	16. Hi

Fitz sat with Olivia all night. He tried to do some work but his mind was focused too much on Liv. He kept a constant watch on her monitors making sure their numbers stayed the same and she was breathing.

"You know I can watch that for you if you want to get some sleep, Mr. President," Shirley told him when she got on duty in the morning.

She was older than Fitz, probably 70ish and stood about 5 feet tall. But she was not to be messed with. Everyone knew that she was fierce.

"I'm alright, Shirley. And please call me Fitz. I want to be here when she wakes up. Selfishly, I'd like to be the first person she sees when she does," Fitz replied.

"Alright, as far as I can see on her chart, she's been stable all night."

"Yes she has, Dr. Kessler said that she'd be able to wake up sometime this morning if the night went well."

Shirley told him that Olivia would be fine as she left the room.

Throughout the morning, Fitz kept a watch on her monitors as he worked with Cyrus and played with Ella. Jason came in every hour checking on Liv for several hours before actually saying anything to Fitz.

"We're going to take her down for an MRI and see what we get before we take her out of the coma. If all goes well and we see what we hope to see on the scans, then we'll bring her back," Jason informed them taking Olivia down the elevator.

A couple hours had passed since Liv was taken down for her scan. Fitz sat impatiently in the hospital room waiting for their return when Shirley came in.

"Dr. Kessler just called. He said that Olivia's scans look wonderful. There's no swelling and they are on their way up with her. He wants you to be next to her when she wakes up. She might have a bad headache when they pull her out of the coma," she told Fitz.

"That's great! Shirley this is wonderful! Liv's going to be fine," he said hugging her.

Jason brought Olivia back in on the hospital bed. Fitz softly kissed her cheek and took her hand while Jason started to wake her up.

"Liv," Jason said as her eyes started to open. "Olivia?" Her eyes found their way to Jason. "Do you know where you're at?" She slowly nodded and let him go on. "Do you know who I am?" Again she nodded. "Do you know who that is beside you?"

Liv turned her head and looked at Fitz. She stared blankly at him for a few moments, giving everyone the impression she had no idea who he was. Slowly, she smiled at him. "Hi."

"Hi," he said leaning in and kissing her lips.

"How'd it go, Jason?" Liv asked him.

"We got all of it. Every single last piece is gone."

Liv pulled him down to her and hugged him tight. "Thank you so much! Now when can I leave?"

"In a few days when we make sure that you are at least 90 percent better. Then you can go home with Fitz or wherever you want to go."

Olivia looked away from Fitz. She knew that he would want her to come back to the White House with him and stay but she wasn't ready for that. But she didn't want to tell him that now.

"Thanks Jason. Dinner later?"

"Hot date with Amy tonight. I'll check in on you before I leave."

Jason left Fitz and Olivia alone. Fitz started to kiss her cheek making his way to her lips.

"You've got visitors if you want them to come in," he told her.

"No one's supposed to know I'm here. Who are they?"

"I had Cyrus fly down with Ella. She's excited to see you. She sat on the bed next to you last night singing the alphabet to you. It was pretty cute."

"I bet. I'm sorry to keep you away from the White House. I should let you get back to running the country. Cyrus is probably having a heart attack since nothing is getting done properly."

"He's being calm about all of this. Cy's very concerned with you. The rest can wait. I've got the staff in the Residence preparing a room for you so you can stay there without a problem."

Olivia let out a long sigh. "I wish you wouldn't do that."

"Do what?"

"You're making decisions without me again. You can't just…"

"I'm trying to help you Livie. I want to help you get better and back to you. Livie you are…"

"Get Cyrus and Ella in here."

Fitz nodded knowing that they were done with the conversation for now. He had an agent go get them and bring them in.

"Livia!" Ella screamed when she saw her. "You up. A, B, C's?"

"Sure Ella." Olivia said the alphabet with her goddaughter ignoring the look from Fitz she was getting. Cyrus let the two girls chat and play for a bit before he interjected.

"Good to see you alive, Liv."

"Great to be alive. I'm glad you were able to come with Ella, Cy. I know you want to get back."

Cyrus shrugged and he and Ella said goodbye before an agent took them back to Air Force One.

Fitz came back after they left to the hospital while Liv was watching the news. He sat patiently waiting for the news cycle she was watching to end before trying to talk. But as soon as that one was over, Liv switched the TV to another news channel. After an hour more of doing this, Fitz grew irritated and took the remote from her turning the TV off.

"Are we going to talk about this?" he asked her.

"No, there's not anything to talk about. You've apparently made a decision and I'm going to have to live with it."

"Where else are you going to go? Who will take care of you? What are you going to eat? Are you going to follow up with your doctor in D.C.? Will you be able to function alone? Are you going to work? Are you working at OPA? Will you work at the White House? What are you going to do, Olivia?"

"Why am I being interrogated?"

"Because you haven't thought any of this through!"

"Who said I haven't? You don't know if I have a plan or not. You just assume that I don't Fitzgerald. And when do I never have a plan? When have I ever not known what to do? There is always one last card to play. And right now, I've got a full hand of cards left."

"So you're going to fight me on moving you into the White House to make sure that you are okay?"

"You're damn straight I am."

"Don't you think you're being a bit ridiculous? There's no one to help you at home."

"I. Do. Not. Need. Any. Help. I got out of bed, I walked around before Cyrus and Ella came in and while you were gone with them. I've walked to the bathroom and out of it. I've ate and everything else that Jason requires me to do. The only reason he won't let me leave today is that he wants to be a million percent sure that I am perfectly fine. He's known me a lot longer than you and he knows a hell of a lot more about me than you will ever know."

Olivia was getting worked up causing her heart rate monitor to start beeping erratically.

"Liv, calm down. You're right, I'm wrong. Breathe," Fitz demanded as he sat next to her. Olivia tried to calm herself but she couldn't. She threw herself back on the bed as her heart stopped. "OLIVIA!" Fitz yelled at her.

As soon as her monitor flat lined, Dr. Kessler and Shirley came in with a couple other people. Shirley started to do CPR on her before Jason pulled her away.

When Fitz realized what she was doing, he continued the CPR. "Why are you just standing there? Do something!"

Jason looked at him with sad eyes. "Mr. President, Sir, Fitz, I'm so sorry. We can't do anything for Olivia. As much as I want to, I can't."

"WHAT! Why the hell not?!" Fitz yelled continuing the CPR. He got a few beeps off the monitor before she flat lined again.

"Fitz, she signed a DNR."


	17. Who The Hell Said You Could Bring Me Bac

"She did what!" Fitz yelled at Jason continuing the CPR on Olivia.

"Olivia signed a do not resuscitate form. I can't bring her back. This is what she wants," Jason told him.

"I don't give a shit what she wants. I don't give a damn if she signed the damn Declaration of Independence. You bring her back NOW!"

Jason wanted to help bring her back, he really did. But Olivia didn't want to be brought back. She wanted to be left to die in peace. If she was going to die, she wasn't going to fight it. When the two of them talked about it, she made him promise not to resuscitate her. He promised that he wouldn't after much debate about it.

"Mr. President, I can't do that."

Fitz continued for several minutes wearing him out.

"Screw it!" Jason yelled. "Someone find me paddles!" Shirley brought in the cart and told Fitz to move back. After one shock at 200, Olivia's heartbeat was back to normal. "Who said you could leave this life?" he asked jokingly serious.

"Who the hell said you could bring me back!?" she nearly shouted in his face.

"Hey, don't look at me," Jason pointed to Fitz, "he started it."

Olivia looked over and sent Fitz a death glare.

Fitz tried to avoid her stare at him. "Now that I see that you have a good heartbeat, I'll go get some coffee."

Liv sat up in the bed catching her breath as Fitz walked out. "FITZGERAL THOMAS GRANT THE THIRD! GET YOUR ASS BACK IN HERE NOW!"

Jason and Shirley backed away from Olivia slowly exiting the room. "Looks like the President is in some trouble," Shirley whispered to the doctor.

Fitz turned back to the room, keeping his eyes on his feet. "Livie," he started.

"Who the hell gave you permission to avoid my DNR? I know I didn't!"

"Liv, you were dying. I didn't know you had signed a DNR. And even if you didn't, I still would have continued with the CPR. What don't you understand about the fact that I can't lose you? I've lost my son, I've lost my fake marriage, my daughter doesn't want to spend time with me in D.C., and you want to add losing you on top of it? I won't do it. I can't lose you. So be pissed at me all you want but just know, that I won this round. And besides, it was your friend the doctor who really brought you back to us."

"And you better believe that I'll be yelling at him too. But I think you broke a rib."

"If CPR is done correctly, that will usually happen," Jason said other the nurse call button.

"Jason?"

"Yeah?"

"You're fired."

"But you're alive so I'm okay with that. You can go home in two days."


	18. I Don't Feel Guilty

"I said no, Fitz," Olivia yelled at him before she got off the plane a few days later.

"I told you that you don't have a say in this. Now come on, the cameras are waiting," he replied.

"Absolutely not. I will not do it."

Fitz got in her face sounding up his serious tone. "You will follow me into that White House in the next three seconds or I will carry you over my shoulder in there and have a guard stand outside your bedroom door and notify me every five minutes of what you are doing, take your pick Olivia."

"That is an abuse of power and you know it."

"I will use every single power I have to ensure that you do not return to your apartment or follow Ballard to Indonesia or God forbid to find your father. I will use every last resource I have to make you stay put in the White House even if it means tying you to the bed post."

Olivia fought the smirk on her face knowing that Fitz would do it if needed. "I want it understood that I am staying here against my will and will be leaving as soon as my doctor gives the final okay."

"Duly noted. Now come on."

Fitz walked down the steps off Air Force One holding Olivia's hand in front of the cameras as they both waved. They went through the Rose Garden into the Oval meeting Cyrus inside.

"Nice show you two. I'm sure we'll be fielding questions for the next week as to what the two of you are to each other," Cyrus greeted them.

"And we tell them exactly what we are," Fitz said. "We tell them that we are dating, since it's too soon to announce our engagement."

Before Cyrus was able to say anything, Liv cut in. "We are not engaged Cyrus. No matter what Mr. Stubborn over there believes. I don't have a ring and I have NOT said yes."

"Only half of that is true, Livie. You do have a ring. Well, I have the ring and the second you say yes, it's yours. But technically it already belongs to you."

"Formalities aside. You two enjoy the wonderful enjoyment of the press. I'll be in my cell, and yes Fitzgerald; I'm still pissed at you."

"But you're alive and that's all that matters!" Fitz yelled after her as she left the Oval.

Cyrus set down the briefings for the day in front of Fitz letting him settle in. "Why is she pissed at you now?"

"I gave her CPR and made her doctor void her DNR."

"I guess that's a good reason to be pissed."

"I'm also holding her against her will in the Residence."

"As per your usual."

"Meaning?"

"Olivia's been hurt and you have to be the knight to come save her. She wants to go home but you want her to have protection and since your go to boy is out of the country it only seems fit that she stay here with you while she is recovering. And then when she is better the two of you will fight as to her staying here or going back to her apartment even though we both know that she will want to go home to her apartment. But she'll feel guilty and stay here because she didn't tell you that she was dying of a brain tumor that from now on and for the rest of eternity you will bring up to make her feel guilty and then she will let you have your way because of the guilt that eats her every single day. And when she's tired of the guilt that you lay on her she will leave you and try to run off into the sunset but realize a few days after she leaves that you and she are supposed to be together then she'll come back and let you play the guilt card once again. She'll never throw in your face Amanda or Mellie's stunts that you've gone along with or that you fucked her in a closet after your goddaughter's christening because no matter what you have ever done, she will always feel guilty for not telling you that she had a brain tumor. She'll be over the whole guilt of Defiance because it made you a better person, better President but she'll never forgive herself for not telling you about a brain tumor that nearly killed her."

Cyrus took a drink of water as he sat down on the couch.

"Don't you think that's a bit harsh?"

He shook his head no. "Harsh is holding it against her forever and making her feel the guilt of her actions each day. But she'll never leave you. Not after this."

"Cyrus, what are you trying to say exactly?"

"Read into what you will, Mr. President. I'm just stating the facts."

After a while, Fitz went up to the Residence to join Olivia for the night. He found her sitting in the living room checking her email on her laptop with a glass of water next to her in her pajamas. All afternoon Fitz had thought about what Cyrus told him about Olivia. He knew it wasn't fair that she wasn't getting a say in this but he needed her near him. She made him better and made him want to be better.

"Do you want to go home to your apartment?" Fitz asked scaring her.

At his voice, Olivia closed her laptop and turned towards him. "What did you say?"

"I asked if you wanted to go home. You were in the hospital for a month. I just thought you might want to go home. Go back to your apartment and be comfortable."

Liv took a long drink of water and set it down, buying herself a little time. "You want me here. I'll be fine here. I've unpacked and ordered some food up from the chef; I thought you might be hungry."

"Cyrus was right," Fitz mumbled. Olivia didn't quite hear what he said. "We'll eat and I'll have Tom take you home."

"What? Why? You just demanded that I stay here not six hours ago. Why the sudden change?"

"Please Livie; I'll take you back to your apartment so you can be comfortable there. I'll come visit you there whenever you want me to. We can go slowly if you want to. Whatever you want."

Liv went over to Fitz and pulled him behind her back to the couch. "Why do you want me to leave all the sudden? Did Cyrus say something? Did I do something?"

"No; of course not; you didn't do anything. I don't want you to leave."

"Then why do you want me to go to my apartment so bad?"

"I don't want you to leave."

Olivia pulled her feet under her and stared at Fitz. "You're kicking me out of the White House. You're telling me that you want me to leave and go home. Fitz, you're the one who threatened me if I left here. So I'm not leaving. Have Tom drag me out if you want me gone. You wanted me to stay and now you want me to leave. Have you been drinking? Is this a thing about Mellie? Or Karen and Teddy? What is this?"

"The answer is no to all of that. I just don't want you to leave."

"But you're kicking me out!"

Fitz moved to face her and kissed her lips hard, trying to show her how much he didn't want her to leave.

"You aren't talking about leaving now are you?" she questioned him.

"I don't want you to leave me ever. I know you feel guilty for not telling me about the brain tumor. You showed me that."

"How did I show you? I don't feel guilty."

Fitz smirked at her. "I know you better than that, Livie. You allowed me to literally carry you off that island and bring you back here when I found you with Jason at that café. You didn't even fight me on it. We both know that you were feeling guilty about hiding the truth from me so you went along with it. And you feel guilty for even signing a DNR," he said catching Olivia's frightened eyes. "If you had wanted to die so badly, you would have done it. And if you didn't feel guilty, you'd of found a way to get me out of that hospital room by whatever means necessary. But you didn't. You let me stay and let me bring you back to me. Cyrus says that I will use that against you and you'd never leave. Trust me, I never want you to leave me but I don't want you to stay with me because you feel guilty. I'd never be able to live with myself if you stayed because you felt obligated to. It's not fair to you or me. You'll begin to resent me. I want you to stay because you want to stay. So if you want to go back to your apartment then I will take you. If you don't want to be here, then you can go. No hard feelings, no guilt trips."

Olivia leaned back away from Fitz. "I think… maybe… maybe it might be a good idea for a few days apart. I mean we can talk at lunch, you could come over at night, but I need to be home just for a bit. Fitz, I'm not asking you to let me go or telling you I'm leaving. I'm not going anywhere. But I don't think it'd be right if I stayed here so soon after your divorce. People will speculate that we were together before the divorce and even though it's true, you are still the President. And I know that you don't care what people think but we still need to stay above the fray. It's only Wednesday, how about I make you a deal, I'll stay at my apartment until Saturday night? Then Sunday morning I'll come back here with you and stay for a while. Maybe until Thursday? You can come over every night and even spend the night if you want. Next week, we can go out on a public date and work from there. Can you work with that?"

"This is your way of telling me there's no way that you are ever leaving me right?" Olivia nodded and smiled as she leaned in to kiss him. "Then that's fine with me."


	19. It's Our First Date

Cyrus sat with Fitz in the Oval preparing him for his first real date with Olivia. Fitz picked out a restaurant and a place that they could actually go to without having cameras following them everywhere.

"Do you think she'll like it?" Fitz asked Cyrus about the flowers.

"They're from you; she loves anything from you. Olivia is going to be ready soon so you better get going," Cyrus replied.

Fitz grabbed the flowers and headed down to the limo with Tom and Daniel in tow. They drove off to pick up Olivia for their first, highly publicized, date. As they drove down the street they could see the reporters and photographer paparazzi taking pictures near Olivia's apartment as they drove up.

Olivia finished putting on her makeup and putting her hair up long ago. She slipped into her tea length cream colored strapless dress. Liv sat down on the couch fastening her five inch cream colored sandal heels when the doorbell rang.

"One second!" she yelled fixing her shoe. She walked over to the door opening it to find Fitz. His favorite red tie, the one she stole off another campaign helper before an interview, and black suit. "Hi."

"Hi. Livie, you look amazing!" Fitz said stepping into the apartment giving her a kiss. "Here, for you," he said handing her the red roses.

"They're beautiful, Fitz. Thank you, but you didn't need to send someone to get me flowers."

"What makes you think that I didn't go out and get them?"

"Because I know your schedule and you wouldn't have ever had time to go get them yourself."

"Well, technically, I did get them myself. They're from our rose bush in the Rose Garden. I picked them and cut them all myself… and then the florist scolded me and fixed them. But they're still the ones that I picked for you."

Liv went up to him and kissed his lips after putting them in water. "They're beautiful even so. Ready to go?" she asked putting her coat on.

"Whenever you are."

Olivia followed Fitz down to the limo getting caught my photographers outside the building. He helped her into the car and closed the door behind him.

Tom drove them to a little Italian restaurant that Fitz loved to order from. They were silent the entire way over just enjoying the company.

Fitz played the perfect gentleman. He opened the doors for her, took off her coat, pulled out the chair and ordered for her.

"And also the best red wine that you have," Fitz added. "How was your day? I haven't talked to you since you went to bed two nights ago."

"It was good. I talked with your assistant Lauren to make sure we were still going out tonight. I know you were busy all day with the Prime Minister. You could have invited him and his wife tonight. I wouldn't have minded."

"Ah, but I do. I don't like to share you. Even as a formality. The Prime Minister was already invited to the VP's house for dinner tonight anyway."

"You could have made it a big event."

Fitz frowned at her. "Do you not want to be alone with me? Is something wrong?"

"Fitz, that's not it at all. You know I love to be alone with you but there is always that little truth: you and I are never really alone. It's fine. Nothing is wrong. I love to be with you any way that I can. How were your meetings? Get anything productive done?"

"A few things, good things."

"I still think you should move in on the territory and make sure they understand that the United States does not tolerate the actions that Sudan has proven. They need to know that we will take action, that is to say if you want to take action, when American lives are at risk. They have no right to choose what to do to them."

"Olivia, let's not talk about work. I want to talk about you and me and where we're going with this. We should discuss our future. The one that you and I want to build together."

"I thought that was settled already?" Liv stared at Fitz only to see his somewhat shocked and hurt expression. "We are going to get married and move to Vermont with our children. Isn't that the plan? You become mayor and I make jam? I stand beside you and raise our kids to be the best people that they can be. The plan is perfect Fitz. It's full proof. What else is there?"

Fitz could tell in her voice that she wasn't completely sold on the plan. There was a bit of resentment he noted. "You aren't happy with the plan? The endgame isn't good enough?"

"I didn't say that," she replied sipping her wine looking away from him.

"Livie, we can always change the endgame. It's not set in stone. We could do something else."

"It's perfect, Fitz. How are Teddy and Karen?" She tried to change the subject fast before she said something she didn't want to.

"They're doing great. Karen is coming back to school in D.C. so she will be at the White House on the weekends. Teddy loves the beach in California; Mellie said that he makes sand castles all over the place."

"That's great; at least he's happy with his mom. And you should spend the weekend with Karen this weekend. She'll be glad to get some time with you without you and Mellie at each other's throats."

"You should come over someone while she's there. I'll have Tom pick you up and we all can have dinner together."

Olivia nodded as she finished her dinner. "We'll have to see, I do have some work I need to do. You should just enjoy the time you have with her. She'll be going off to college soon and won't have a lot of time to come home."

Fitz helped Olivia get her coat on so they could continue their date.

"What are we doing here?" Liv asked him as they pulled up in front of the National Archives.

"I know you've seen all of this," Fitz told her. He held out his hand for her to take and help her out of the car. Liv took his hand and followed him up to the building steps. Tom followed behind her and gave Fitz the bag he was holding before going back to the ground. Fitz took out Olivia's favorite wine and two glasses along with a blanket. He put the blanket on the steps and sat down pouring both of them a glass of the wine. "After we came here the first time, that's when I decided."

"Oh, and what did you decide?"

"That Vermont was going to be ours. I hired the contractor the day after and bought the property. I wanted to build the house and have everything ready. The second that I divorced Mellie, I had a plan to take you up there. Even if it had to be against your will, I was going to take you out there and ask you to marry me. I figured that if I showed you the house that you wouldn't be able to say no. We're getting married… eventually. I don't care when but I want you to marry me."

"Okay."

"Okay?"

"Yes, okay. I will marry you. Where's my ring?"

Fitz pulled out the ring box from his pocket. He opened it slowly and pulled out the Lucinda with diamond band and put it on her finger.

"Livie, you have no idea how happy this makes me! I can't wait to marry you."

Fitz and Olivia finished their date with a make out touchy feely session in the back of the limo in front of her apartment. After several minutes, Fitz walked her up to her apartment.

"You could spend the night if you wanted," Liv told him after he kissed her.

"It's our first date. Even though it isn't really, to the public it is. I'd love to though but I should get back. Call you in the morning?"

"Like clockwork. I should be able to answer if I'm not in the shower. I'll talk to you at eight. Goodnight Fitz."

"Goodnight, Livie."

Fitz leaned in for one more kiss and made sure she was safely in her apartment before leaving.


	20. She's Stubborn

"What?" Olivia answered her phone without looking at the id.

She and Fitz's date was a few days before and he called her every night, morning and lunch since. Some of the time she would even answer. He was starting to get worried when she wasn't answering all his calls. He knew she was at home resting, recovering from her surgery. He had Tom go over and check on her a few times a day to make sure that she was okay and didn't need anything.

"Well I finally get you on the phone. How are you?"

"Cyrus, I'm busy. What do you want?"

"I was going to invite you to lunch but now I don't think I like your attitude. What's wrong?"

"What is it with you and the President thinking that there is always something wrong with me? There is nothing wrong with me. Maybe there's something wrong with you two. Did you ever think about that?"

Fitz had walked in hearing Cyrus talk to Olivia on the speaker phone. He motioned for Cyrus not to say anything about his presence as he listened to Olivia go off. When she was done she hung up. Fitz went out the door and out to the limo with Tom and Daniel heading to Olivia's.

Olivia had finished her conversation with Quinn and Abby over the phone several minute ago. She headed towards the bedroom to take a nap if she could since she hadn't slept well in days when someone knocked.

"Why are you here?" Liv asked through the door after looking through the peephole.

"Open the door so we can talk," Fitz told her.

"I'm going to bed. You shouldn't be here anyway."

"Olivia, it's one in the afternoon. You should just relax for a while. Let me in, Liv."

Liv unlocked the door and went to her bedroom crawling into bed. She relaxed and waited for Fitz to come in.

"So I'm not going to ask what's wrong. I'll rephrase it… are you okay?" Liv stayed silent on the bed facing the wall. "Did I do something? If I did you can tell me and I'll make it up to you."

"You can't leave the White House in the middle of the day. Go back to work."

"How am I supposed to work when you're so upset about something? It's a distraction." Fitz sat on the bed and pulled her to his lap giving her little kisses on her cheek and lips. "Are you okay?"

Liv nodded and attempted to move away but he had a tight grasp. "Fitz, I'm fine. Just go back to work. You have things to do and I have… I have things to do."

"Get dressed and I'll take you back with me. Karen will be arriving soon and we all can have dinner tonight. I can spend some quality time with my two favorite girls."

"You still have work to do for another four hours. Finish your work and I'll come over in a bit. Have some quiet time alone with Karen and I'll meet you for dinner."

Fitz set her back on the bed and went into her closet. He picked out a pair of her jeans with a long sleeve shirt and the boots she liked. "Get dressed, we're leaving soon. I'll wait outside."

"I said no. What aren't you getting about that?"

"Grants don't take no."

"Learn to. I'm not going right now. I have other things that need my attention; you are not the only person who needs me."

"I'm the only person that needs you right now. And right now, I need you at the White House with me and my daughter so we can have dinner in a few hours. Get dressed Olivia, I won't ask you again."

"You didn't ask in the first place!" Liv yelled as he left the room.

She got changed slowly and went with Fitz back to the White House just as the limo pulled up Karen arrived too.

"Hey Liv!" Karen screamed running to hug her.

"Karen, you look adorable. How's school?" she asked walking in with her leaving Fitz behind them.

"It's good. I've got a history project, can you help me while Dad works? If you aren't busy I mean."

"Liv would love to help you, Karen. She'll be here all night with you and me. I've got to finish some things with Cyrus but I'll be back in a bit. You two have fun," Fitz said kissing each of them.

Karen took Olivia to her bedroom to help her put together a timeline for her history project.

"Dad seems to really like you. I could almost say love but I'm not sure how accurate that is. He's in strong like with you," Karen smiled at her.

"Strong like? That sounds pretty good. I like your Dad too."

"Just like? You don't love him? I can tell he loves you but he hasn't told me yet."

"It's a bit complicated Karen. Things are complicated with us."

"Everything's complicated Liv. Dad didn't love Mom. Maybe he did in a different way than he loves you but he doesn't love her anymore. She didn't want me and Jerry around to ruin her spectacular image. But that's okay. I had more fun at school. I'm glad they're divorce now. I can spend more time with Dad without him yelling at Mom. And I get to spend time with you. We should go shopping."

"I know that trick, Karen. Finish your project first. Your dad should be back soon. It's already five. We can go shopping later. Maybe have lunch and go shopping next week. Give us both a break from school and…"

"And?"

"Never mind, I've got to make a quick call." Olivia excused herself and stepped into the hallway calling Huck to check on her team's progress with the case they were working on. Fitz hadn't found out yet that Olivia was having her team come in her apartment and work from there. She knew he had a detail following her but didn't want to let on that she knew. Liv knew Fitz would be upset that she was going back to work so soon and not at her one hundred percent best.

"Everything okay?" Fitz said sneaking up behind her as she hung up the phone.

"Yes, just Abby checking on me. She was worried when she went to the apartment and I wasn't there," she lied.

"Okay, did Karen finish her homework?"

"Nearly done. I'm going to go check on the chef. He said dinner would be ready before you got back."

Olivia went to the dining room as the chef was setting the table with the food around it. After a few minutes Fitz walked in with Karen ready to eat.

"Liv said she and I would go shopping and have lunch next week. Just the two of us," Karen informed Fitz in the middle of the meal.

"That sounds like fun. You two should get to know each other more. Liv's going to be here for a while. Did she show you her ring?" Fitz smirked happy to tell his daughter.

"You're engaged! Dad that's great! Liv's going to be my mom. Or step mom. But still my friend. That's perfect!" Karen screamed as she hugged both of them.

"It is," Liv said forcing a smile.

"So where are you getting married? The Rose Garden?" Karen asked excited.

"We haven't talked about it yet, sweetie. But you'll be the first to know when we do," Fitz told her.

Olivia took care of the plates and cleaned up dinner while Karen picked out a movie to watch with them. "Karen, I think I'm going to skip the movie. I'm a bit tired. Someone," she pointed at Fitz, "decided it wasn't important for me to take a nap. You two have fun together. I'll see you in the morning."

Karen gave her a hug goodnight and went to the living room leaving her with Fitz.

"You could sleep in the living room and watch the movie with us."

"If I'm asleep I won't be watching the movie, will I? I'm just going to go to bed. I'll see you in the morning," she told him walking away.

"Livie," Fitz grabbed her wrist and pulled her to him. "Why are you so mad at me? You're being unreasonable."

"Unreasonable? Really Fitz? I'll be in one of the bedrooms here. Go spend time with your daughter. I'll see you later."

Olivia stomped off to a bedroom and slammed the door closed before crawling in bed and easily falling asleep for the night.

"What did you do to Liv?" Karen demanded to know.

"I didn't do anything. I think. I'm not sure what's wrong," Fitz answered. Karen started heading to the room that Liv was in before Fitz stopped her. "I'll talk to her tomorrow. She's pretty tired. There's something you should know about her though."

"She's stubborn. You should apologize for whatever you did."

"She is stubborn. Very stubborn. Liv had a brain tumor removed a couple weeks ago. I don't think she's really recovered from it. I don't want her going back to work because her job is so stressful. Liv needs to recuperate and get back to herself completely."

"Dad, Liv's back. She's the way she always has been. She's just in a mood. Probably something you did upset her. Olivia is an adult and people are treating her like a child."

"How do you know?"

"I heard her on the phone with a few people. Everyone keeps asking how she is and if she took her medications. Maybe people should leave her alone and let her be. Liv's going to be fine. You two are finally getting married! I know she's excited about that."

"I bet she is. Let's go watch that movie and then head to bed. Ice cream?"


	21. It's A Game Of Politics

It had been a week since Olivia had dinner with Fitz and Karen. She took Karen shopping and out to dinner one night after school to have some girl time.

"Did Dad do something?" Karen asked weakly as they shopped.

"Why would you ask that?" Olivia looked a bit shocked at her.

"Dad said you've been in a bad mood for a couple weeks now. He thought maybe you were just having a hard time with the brain tumor thing at first but now he thinks that you might actually be mad at him for something. What's wrong with you two?"

"Karen," Liv sighed sitting down on a bench, "your Dad and I have issues. We don't see eye to eye on several things. But that doesn't mean that we don't love each other. He's stubborn and always determined to get his way. But he can't always have it. We're both stubborn and we let each other be that way. One of us has to compromise at some point. Don't worry about him, he'll be fine. He loves having you stay at the Residence with him all the time now. He's missed you so much. Let's get some dinner and I'll take you back to the White House."

"Aren't you going to stay tonight?"

"Not tonight, sweetie. I've got some things to finish at home."

Olivia returned Karen and her agents back to the Residence before Fitz finished for the day. She went home to her covered table of files of cases that OPA was working on. She locked the door and started to work on it.

After a while the doorbell rang several times in a minute.

"Are you going to let me in?" Cyrus asked when she opened the door just enough to poke her head out.

"What do you need?"

"Again with the attitude? I thought Karen might have changed your tone. My in laws have my daughter and I need company. I brought Gettysburger and wine. Let me in."

"Fine, give me a minute." Olivia closed the door and scurried to the table clearing it as fast as she could.

"What's all that?" Cyrus asked stepping in before the table was half cleared.

Olivia turned to face him looking very angry. "I told you to wait a minute. Why don't you listen?"

"Liv, what's all of that? Are you on some kick about something?"

"Cyrus, don't worry about what I'm doing. Just go get the wine glasses from the kitchen."

Cyrus set the food down on the table next to the door and walked towards the kitchen tricking her. He moved fast and grabbed several files off the table.

"Congressman Shaw, Senator Harper, Congresswoman Lang. What are you doing with these?" Cyrus didn't even need to hear her answer. "Shaw's been sleeping with another intern. Harper's been smoking pot. Lang's been all over the place. These are OPA cases. Why are you working?"

"I have things to do Cyrus. Get the wine glasses."

"You know he doesn't want you working."

"And there's no way he's going to find out, is there? Fitz is never going to know that I've been working on OPA cases until I tell him that I am going back to work. He doesn't need to know about any of this."

"He's going to find out. And soon. Lang is coming into the White House tomorrow for a meeting with him. We both know that she has a big mouth. You're not going to be able to keep that a secret for long."

"You meet with her. She doesn't need to speak to him anyway. He has more important things to work on than wondering which way she's going to vote. Figure out a way that he doesn't meet with her."

"Fitz is the one the requested the meeting. I can't just go in and tell him I'll do it."

"Why not? You do every other time."

"Olivia, it's not my choice. What has you so pissed off with him anyway? You've been a real bitch lately."

"I'm not sure if I should take that as a compliment or an insult. I have things going on. My life doesn't just revolve around the White House and his needs and what he wants. We're getting married. What else does he want from me? I said yes, I wear the ring. I let him be President because that's what he wants to do. He wants to change the world. I stand beside him and make sure he has what he needs. I've made sure that he has always had what he needs. Even Mellie made sure that I was there to fuck him when he needed." Olivia took a deep breath as she poured some wine into a glass and took her pills.

"You shouldn't be taking alcohol with medication."

"Well then rat me out to him. I'm sure he'd love to know what I'm taking my medication with. Not that it's any of his concern."

"So this is because he cares about you? He wants to make sure that you're safe."

"Since when are you on team Fitz protects Olivia? You were determined to destroy me not too long ago."

"Liv, it's a game of politics. My job is to protect Fitz and the White House. And so is yours. It just happens that we have to be on opposite sides sometimes. I want you protected and if Fitz can do that, than he should. I don't see the issue in him helping you, or caring."

Olivia agreed and let everything go for the night. She was determined to spend some time with Cyrus like they used to and not worry about what Fitz needed from her.


	22. Give Olivia Some Space

"Cyrus, call Olivia and see how she's doing. Take her to lunch if she'll go," Fitz ordered.

"Why don't you take her to lunch and call her? She is your fiancé after all," Cyrus answered.

"I would if she was answering the door or her phone. She's ignoring me. Whatever I did a month ago certainly has her pissed off. She doesn't talk to me. Even when she's here she only talks to me in front of Karen. Liv's a chatterbox when she's with Karen but she doesn't want to see me. If I knew what I did wrong, I'd fix it."

"Olivia's busy."

Fitz stared at Cyrus blankly. "Liv's home resting. She isn't busy."

"Liv is busy. She has things she had to do."

"Cleaning out her closet doesn't make her busy, Cyrus. Just call her and ask her to lunch. I'm sure she could use a break from being in that apartment alone all this time."

Cyrus didn't want to let on that Olivia was actually working from her apartment. Fitz would eventually find out and the two would have a screaming match putting Cyrus in the middle.

"Give her some freedom and she'll be back. Like a bird, let it fly and it returns, squeeze it and it dies. Olivia is going to be back to her normal self in no time. You had Tom bring her here every night this week and last. Even after she told you that she was asleep, you made him bring her here. Give Olivia some space, Fitz. She's not going anywhere."

"Why do I get the feeling that you have been talking to Olivia about me?"

"Because you're paranoid. And we have," he mumbled.

"Then she's told you why she's upset with me? What has her so moody around me? She doesn't want to talk about the wedding or anything with me. She won't talk to me, but maybe she'll talk to you."

Fitz picked up the phone and dialed her number before handing it to Cyrus.

"What?" she answered.

"Hey Liv, are you busy?" Cyrus asked her.

"You're calling from the Oval. Which means that Fitz is sitting at his desk pouting, right?"

"You aren't busy? That's good."

"And by that you mean that he actually called me and handed you the phone."

"Sounds good," Cyrus told her.

"And why is he making you call me? He's wasting everyone's time."

"Since you don't have anything going, would you care to go to lunch? The bistro down the street?"

"That's why you're calling! What a waste of time. Don't you have meetings to go to?"

"Nope, I've got a couple hours clear. Meet you there?"

"Against my will," Olivia said and hung up.

Cyrus put the phone on the cradle. "She's going to lunch with me."

Olivia put on her shoes and coat heading to the bistro to meet Cyrus. She ordered her coffee and waited a few minutes for him. It didn't take long for him to show up.

"The President put you up to this," Olivia commented when he sat down.

"We both know that he did. He's… he's… hell I don't know what he's doing. You won't talk to him and I'm his go to now. I don't know how I can help him with his Olivia Pope issue but as long as he is a functioning President I'm going to try my best to get him what he needs. And right now, he needs a fiancé to speak to him. Fitz is talking about the wedding to me and he wants to tell everyone but you two have to announce that you are engaged now. Hopefully the sooner that you two announce no one will know that you've been engaged for over a month. I'm surprised it's been a secret this long. You are recovering well, hardly anyone knows that you had a tumor; no one really knows that you two are engaged. Besides me, it's only Tom, Daniel, and Karen. Karen's been looking at bridesmaids dresses. I'm pretty sure she's got your entire wedding planned without you even being there. You tell me where to be and I'll be there with your goddaughter in tow and dressed perfectly as your flower girl. So, tell me what the issue is and how I solve it."

Olivia was getting annoyed with all the wedding plans that people we making. Karen had been sending her pictures of dresses for a couple weeks. Liv had to tell her team so they would be prepared for the incoming clients that she was engaged to Fitz and all Abby wanted to do was take her cake testing and bouquet shopping. Fitz had tried to talk to her about where to have the wedding but she just shut him out. Now, Cyrus adding to the wedding was an overload.

"There's nothing you can do, Cyrus. Thank you for at least trying to help. This is something that I'm going to have to take care of myself."

"Can you give me something to take back to him? Any little piece of information?"

"Yeah, tell him I'll be at my apartment for the rest of the week and that he shouldn't be using you as a middle man to get to me. He needs to do his own work. He needs to focus on being President and focus on Karen and Teddy. Fitz doesn't need to be worrying about me every second. I'm just fine!"

"He's not going to like that answer."

"That's the only answer he's getting!"

Olivia left the bistro more upset than she was before. Fitz telling Cyrus about her not speaking to him was fine, he needed someone to talk to, and she understood that. What she couldn't understand was him sending Cyrus to check on her.

"She's doing what!" Fitz screamed at Cyrus when he told him.

"Olivia's spending the week at her apartment. She's upset that you're using me to get to her. Which I'm fine with, I understand."

"TOM!" Fitz yelled getting his agent in the Oval.

"Yes, Sir?" Tom stepped into the Oval closing the door.

"I need you and Daniel to go pick up Olivia and bring her back here. If she refuses to come willingly, force her. Use whatever means necessary to get her here to the Residence."

"Yes, Mr. President."

"Thank you, Tom."

Fitz poured himself a drink and handed another to Cyrus.

"You know this is going to cause war, right?" Cyrus asked him.

"The woman is beginning to get on my nerves. She's avoiding me at all costs and refuses to see reason. I need her here anyway."

"Alright, Fitz, you are the one with your head on the chopping block. I hope you know what you're doing."

Olivia had finished just finished a case with her team. She added the last of the notes and put it in the filing cabinet in her home office as she sipped her glass of wine for the night. Just as she was about to turn in for the night, the doorbell rang.

"I'm not coming with you," she said knowing who it was.

"Ms. Pope, he's given instructions to forcefully remove you and take you to the Residence. Will you make it easier on all of us just this once, please?" Tom begged.

"Where's the fun in that? You two should come in. I'll go willingly soon."

Tom and Daniel stepped into the apartment.

"I've got a few things to do before I leave. I'm sure there's a football game on one of those channels. You boys can turn on the TV and watch if you want," Olivia said from the kitchen.

Stalling, Olivia cleaned up her kitchen, doing the dishes and washing the counters. She finished clearing the table of files in the dining room, putting them away in her office. When the entire apartment looked clean, she slowly went to her bedroom and changed into clothes suitable to be seen outside in.

"I'm ready when you two are," she announced.

Tom turned off the game and headed towards the car with Daniel behind Olivia.

"He's going to be upset that it took so long for us to bring you back. It's almost ten," Daniel told them.

"He'll live."


	23. I Can't Do This Anymore

"I've been summoned," Olivia said as she walked into the living room in the Residence.

Fitz had been sitting there waiting for her to come in for over an hour. He was getting impatient with her.

"I wouldn't say summoned. I simply asked my agents to go get my fiancé and bring her home where she belongs. And she belongs here with me and her soon to be step daughter in the Residence of the White House. The first fiancé should not be unprotected at her apartment blocks away from where she is safe," Fitz spat.

"Unprotected? So what are those three, oh wait, sorry, five agents doing outside my apartment building all day? Do you mean to tell me that they are simply there by pure coincidence on their off time in government vehicles? Let's both safe our breaths for that because we both know that's not true."

Fitz was a bit stunned that she knew about them. "You weren't supposed to know."

"It's kind of hard not to notice the men in black every time I look out the window. I've sort of grown used to it. I mean, with all the other times that you've had people spy on me, what's this make, the fourth time? But who's counting right? It's for my protection."

"It is for your protection. Don't mock me on your safety. We are engaged and as such you are supposed to have agents with you at all times."

"Don't give me that shit. Other than you and me, four people know that we are engaged and they wouldn't breathe a word of that to another soul."

"Why aren't you speaking to me? You won't talk about the wedding. You won't talk about moving in here, even into another bedroom. You never answer my calls or the door when I show up. I've been racking my brain to try to remember if I did something wrong. I didn't forget your birthday or any special day. I can't think of anything that I've done to make you behave like such a child to me."

"CHILD?! That's what you're going with! You think I'm acting like a child?"

"You've been throwing a tantrum for the past month. The only thing that I can think of that has you acting like this is your recovery. I thought it might be part of you recovering from major brain surgery. But even to me that seems a bit extreme."

"You think?"

"Tell me what the hell I did! You talk to Karen and Cyrus and the agents and your team. Why am I the only one being punished here?"

"Did you really have two agents come to my apartment to bring me here so you could yell at me? Who's having the tantrum now?"

"Olivia, you have to realize that you and I being engaged changes things. I have a press conference scheduled for tomorrow so we can announce our engagement."

Liv stared at him for several minutes. "You don't realize what you're doing do you?"

"I realize that I'm showing the world how much I love you."

"According to the press, we've been on exactly one date. They don't know about anything before the divorce. They don't know that I've been here every night for three weeks. Or that I spend time with Karen and you. They think we've been on one date. How do you explain to the press that we are engaged after one date?"

"I don't know. You're the fixer, fix it."

"And if I had more time than just a few hours, I might be able to. I have things to do. I have work to do!"

"Work? What work? You haven't been back to work." Fitz could tell by the look on Olivia's face that she was hiding things from him. "You've been working at OPA! How did I not know this? Those agents follow you everywhere. They are supposed to notify me about your every move."

"Because I've been working from home, Fitzgerald. I've had my team coming to my apartment and working from there. I'm actually surprised that Congresswoman Lang was able to keep that a secret from you. Probably because she doesn't want the world knowing her business."

"You aren't back to you, yet. This is not the Olivia Pope that I have loved for five years. This is a pale imitation of her. You have not recovered back to yourself."

Olivia put her hands on the back of the couch as she stared at him. "I had a brain tumor removed. It's going to take a while to get me back to the way I was. I may never be the exact same way that I was before. And I'm sorry about that. I can't help a lot of that. I'm trying."

"You aren't trying hard enough!" Fitz screamed at her.

"Fitz, you don't realize how hard I am actually trying to get back to being myself. I'm not allowed out of my apartment without you being notified. I'm doing my best."

"Olivia, what changed? Why aren't we the way we were before?"

"Things happened. Things that never should have happened… they happened. No one really caused them, it just happened. Your son died. I had a brain tumor. I left. And I regret leaving. At least leaving when I did. You needed me. I know you did. Everyone tried to call me and tell me that you did. All the messages wondering where I was, I knew. But with the hallucinations… I needed to fix myself first. My mother was the reason your son died. And I know you say it isn't my fault but it is. If we weren't together, Jerry would still be alive. She never would have a reason to hurt your son."

"You're blaming yourself again. It's not your fault."

"I know. But really it is. How you forgive me for that, I'll never know."

"There's more. I can tell that you're holding back more. What is it?"

"Everything else aside, Fitz. This isn't working."

"What's not working? Whatever it is, we can make it work. We've done it before and we can do it again. Work with me and we can figure this out together," Fitz said. He sat on the edge of the seat ready to jump to her whenever.

"Us. You and me. We aren't working. You've changed. I'm not the way I was before and it seems like you can't handle that."

Fitz stood up slowly moving toward her. "I can handle that. I really can. I need to know that you are safe. That's my main concern is your safety. It's the same with Karen and Teddy. If you're safe, then I'm happy."

"Fitz, I get that. I know you want us all safe. Especially after what happened. But this can't just be about you. It has to be about me. Somewhere it has to be about what I want."

"Livie, what the hell are you talking about? Of course this is about you! This is all about you," Fitz yelled.

Liv shook her head no at him. "No, Fitz, it's all about you. Ever since I got back from the island, since you forced me off that island, it's been about you. Everything has been about you."

"No it hasn't. Everything that I do, that I make happen is for you!"

"You aren't getting it," Liv said keeping her voice even. "I let you take me off the island because I felt guilty. And yes, I did feel guilty. I should have told you that I was leaving for treatment. I should have told you before that I had a brain tumor. I take full responsibility for that. The guilt in me let you bring me back here. If you wanted to scream and yell at me, I would have gladly let you do that. I let you do that. You wanted to come with me to the island and make sure that I was alright after the surgery, and I let you do that. You made me fight the tumor. You made my best friend ignore my DNR order because you wanted me alive. I let you do that. I came back with you. I stayed here with you until you kicked me out of here that night. I compromised with you so that I could be home and you still feel secure that I was safe. I even fought you on it. I told you that I'd stay here because that's what you wanted. I wasn't the one who talked you out of me staying here. Cyrus did that all by himself. You're the one who followed on it. I compromised that you could come to my apartment and spend each night if you wanted to. I made sure I talked to you every time that you had a chance to. I went on the date with you. I agreed to marry you. And yes I also did that for me. I let you into the apartment when all I wanted to do was rest. I wanted to go back to work but you didn't want me to, so I didn't. I came against my will to the Residence to have dinner with Karen and you. I told you I'd be here later; all I wanted to do was get some sleep. You've had me dragged here every night for three weeks by the same two agents. I came here tonight. I'm here. What else do you want from me? You're making all these plans for a wedding without even telling me. I have Karen and Abby and Cyrus all coming at me with wedding arrangements. No one even knows we are engaged! You've decided that we're going to announce tomorrow that we're engaged and I barely have a twelve hour notification. I'm doing what I can Fitz. But this… it's not working."

Fitz moved right behind her, wanting to pull her to him but was afraid to. "Livie, please. Tell me what to do and I'll do it. Whatever you want."

"I can't do this anymore."

"What exactly can't you do?" Fitz whispered.

Olivia looked at the ring on her finger for several minutes before she answered. She stood up straight facing away from Fitz. She slid the ring off her finger and turned around. Liv took his hand and put the ring on his palm and closed it tightly.

"You've turned into this controlling man that needs me. And I'm okay with you needing me. I need you too. But other people need me too. I have to focus on what I need and what the people who need me need. People count on me. Other than you. You need to focus on your kids and being the best President that you can be. I love you, Fitz. With everything in me, I truly do."

Liv closed his hand tight in hers and left the White House.


	24. What A Whore

Fitz sat in the living room staring at the ring all night. He couldn't believe that Olivia, the woman that he's loved for years, his Livie, had actually handed him the ring he gave her back. The plan was always to get married. That's what they both wanted. But maybe she didn't? He stared at the diamond for hours wondering why she would really leave. Olivia knew he was controlling long ago. She knew it was for her own good. He wanted to keep her safe. And after what happened to his son, of course he'd step up security. Why didn't Olivia understand that?

"Why do you have Liv's ring?" Karen asked when she woke up in the morning. She gently sat beside him as not to scare him. He hadn't noticed that she was there yet. Slowly, she took the ring out of his hand, making him stare at her. "Why is Liv's ring here?"

"We had a fight, Karen. A very stupid fight and she left."

"For the night, right? She's coming back. She has to."

"I don't know Kare, it might be for good this time. She and I… we haven't worked everything out. I've done some things that we haven't agreed on. Liv might not be coming back."

Karen put the ring in Fitz's jacket. "She'll be back. Liv loves you too much to walk away for good. Want some breakfast?"

Fitz followed his daughter to the kitchen, barely eating the cereal they were having. When it was time for work, he walked Karen to the limo to go to school and went to the Oval. He had a few conference calls throughout the day to make with Cyrus but truly wasn't in the mood.

"Have you seen Olivia?" Cyrus asked when he arrived. "We were supposed to work on your speech together."

Fitz stared at the ring then at the picture of him and Liv he kept on his desk. "She's not here. She's won't be here."

"I thought she spent the night last night. What's got you in a mood?"

Fitz held out the engagement ring to him. "Olivia won't marry me. She called it off last night. Cancel the press conference for this afternoon."

Cyrus was a bit more than stunned. Olivia actually said no to him was a shock. "She gave you the ring back or did you ask for it?"

"It's her ring, Cyrus. Hers. Even before I asked this was her ring. It is her ring. It will always be her ring. She gave it back last night. She said I was controlling"

"You are."

"Excuse me?"

Cyrus could tell Fitz was pissed at his comment. "You are controlling. The power of being President has gotten to your head. You think you can walk around here and order people around to do whatever you want to do. Olivia doesn't do that. Olivia doesn't take orders, she's usually giving them. The two of you are so much alike I'm surprised that any part of this relationship lasted. I brought her on your campaign to run it, to give orders and get things done. No part of the plan was for you and her to actually love each other. But I get that. Sometimes it just happens. When it comes to your political career, the two of you are chemicals that go together. You make the other better. But when it comes to your relationship, you both are fire. There's no water to put you out. One of you has to compromise and from what I've seen for the past couple months, Liv's the one who has been compromising. She's done everything you've wanted her to do."

"You're taking a side."

"There's no side to take. Olivia is amazing. She's the best. You're the best. You're superb. But the two of you aren't getting along. And I don't know if it's because you're controlling or because you haven't been laid lately but whatever it is, you need to work it out. Olivia would never leave you for good."

"She gave me the ring."

"And she walked out. How many times has she walked out of here telling you goodbye and coming back weeks later? Other than the ten months that the two of you weren't speaking, she's always come back. And even then she came back. It's this pull that you two have. Olivia Pope is coming back."

"I hope she does. I can't live without her."

Fitz had thought about calling her every day for three weeks. He had turned into a zombie. Cyrus and Karen had to force him to eat something, to get out of bed, to shower for the first week. The second week had been alright in the Residence. He avoided the bedrooms that he and Liv had been in, the living room, the dining room. Fitz spent most of the time he had free with Karen in the kitchen or her bedroom spending time together. The third week had turned awful for anyone in the White House.

"LAUREN! Where the hell are those speech writers? How can we get anything done when they don't show up on time?" Fitz yelled through the door.

"Sir they are supposed to be here in an hour. They're scheduled for three, it's only two," Lauren said poking her head in the door.

"Get them down here now. Let's get this started."

"Mr. President they aren't prepared."

"THEN GET THEM PREPARED!"

Lauren ran down the halls to Cyrus's office. "He's yelling again. The speech writers are supposed to be here in an hour, he wants them now."

"Go warn the speech writers. I have an idea on making him calm down."

Cyrus went up to the Residence getting Karen from the living room.

"Now what has he done?" Karen asked when she saw Cyrus. Lately, the two of them have been trying to calm him down. Fitz rarely yelled at Karen. She was the only thing that was making his life worth anything.

"You have to go to the Oval. Your dad is going to be yelling at twenty people in the next hour if something doesn't get done soon. Can you help me save twenty people from a nightmare?"

Karen put her book down on the table before heading to the Oval. She could hear Fitz screaming down the halls to get the writers now.

"Hey Dad," she said stepping into the Oval.

"Kare, what's up? Everything okay?"

"For me yes. For you, not so much."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The West Wing is scared to death to even come to work. You've been in a bad mood all week. I know why you are too. I don't blame you. I'd be in a bad mood too. But it's three weeks later. Do something. These people talk to Olivia. Everything you do, she hears about."

"In other words, you've been talking to her too."

"I did not say that. I haven't talked to her. I know how these people work. If they think Olivia is the key to this wing getting back to business as usual, they will call her. She's a fixer, apparently the only thing she can't fix is you. You can't keep going around yelling at everyone."

"I'm not yelling."

"I heard you the second the elevator doors opened. You are yelling. If you want Liv back, you have to change, at least a little."

"Maybe I don't want Olivia back," Fitz said, immediately regretting the words.

"You can lie to yourself all you want. But let's try this. Look me in the eyes and tell me that you don't want her, that you hate her and you never want to see her again."

"Karen, what's the point?"

"Say it, come on. She's hurt you bad enough every time. You know it, I know it, Cyrus knows it, even Olivia knows it. She's evil. How could she just walk away so many times? And her being with her ex fiancé Edison, come on don't you think that was a bit slutty? And then Jake? What a whore!"

Fitz grabbed his daughter's wrist tightly making her be quiet. "You will not say those things about her! She isn't any of those. She's smart and sweet and caring." Fitz saw the smirk on Karen's face. "You played me."

"A little trick I learned from Mom, but only to your advantage. We both know that you want Liv back. But she knows what's been going on here while she's been gone. You have to maintain a bit of control. You can't go around yelling at everyone."

"You're right. Have you really talked to her though?"

"No. She's back at OPA though. I saw her on the news with some Senator. He's been running a prostitution ring of illegals and underage girls. Not sure how she's fixing it but she's pissed at him."

"Thanks Karen, and one more thing."

"Yeah?"

"Don't you ever say those things about Olivia even jokingly again."

"Yes, Sir," she saluted.

Karen left the Oval closing the door behind her seeing everyone in the wing in front of the door.

"Well?"

"He's going to be fine. But no one mention her name."


	25. My Gut Is Never Wrong

In the past month since Olivia left Fitz, she's buried herself in work. Senator's cheating, money stealing government contractors, prostitution rings were keeping her busy. People from the White House were calling her constantly asking when she'd be coming back. Liv had heard from Cyrus that Fitz wasn't cooping well. He told her that he was yelling at everyone, staring at the ring, but still functioning. She watched the news every night hoping to at least see a picture of him. She never wanted to break up with him, ever. But his demands and controlling ways were getting in the way of things that she needed. It had to be about her too and not just what he wanted. Liv hoped that he understood that.

"You're starring again," Abby told her. Olivia was looking out her window in her office at the White House. It had become a habit lately for her to do.

"I'm not starring. I'm looking."

"And wondering what he's doing. I'm sure he misses you. It looks like you've almost got things packed up in here."

"Just about, have the movers start taking those boxes down to the van please. I've got a couple more things to pack up."

"Are you sure you're doing the right thing?"

"My gut says I am. And my gut…"

"Is never wrong. I know. If you're sure that this is what you want than I will support you. But I'm totally against this. Because it seems like you're running and gladiators don't get to run."

"I'm not running. This is what was going to happen eventually anyway. I have to do this, Abby. I'm leaving the three of you in charge here."

"I know, we had this meeting weeks ago. But I still think it's wrong."

"Like it or not Abby, it's happening."

Olivia finished packing up her office and having the movers taking it down to the van. When she got home, she poured herself a glass of wine and started packing up her things there. The only thing left to pack was her clothes. The furniture was to be moved the next day and she was actually leaving. For the last night in her apartment, she turned on the news and ate popcorn and drank her wine. She was just about asleep on the couch when the doorbell rang. She looked through the peephole and opened the door.

"What are you doing here?"


	26. Karen Is Gone

"I'm not telling him," Tom told Daniel. "Why didn't we make the other agents tell him?"

"Tell who what?" Cyrus asked hearing the conversation.

Tom and Daniel looked at each other waiting for the other to say something.

"We just have some news that we need to inform the President of," Daniel informed him.

"Good news or bad news?" Cyrus could tell by their faces. "Bad news. An intern? Mellie? The Prime Minister? Congress? Karen?" Tom's eyes grew wider when he said Karen. "What's Karen done?"

Cyrus stepped into the Oval with Tom and Daniel behind him. Fitz was reading his briefing, content with the day.

"Everyone ready to go home for the night? I think I'll be back early enough to have dinner with Karen," Fitz said getting up.

"Actually, sir, these two have something about Karen we don't know about," Cyrus replied.

"Oh and what's that?"

"Sir, well, Karen seems… that I mean… she's um," Daniel stuttered.

"Karen is gone."

"What the hell do you mean my daughter is gone?" Fitz yelled. "How do you lose a fifteen year old girl?"

"Sir, Karen slipped her agents and is not in the White House. We've looked everywhere for her. She's nowhere on the video cameras leaving the building outside. We've checked Blaire House as well but she's not there."

"Are you sure she isn't hiding in a closet or in some room here in the West Wing?"

"She's vanished. I'm sure that she's here in the White House somewhere. Agents are everywhere looking for her. We have the building on lock down. No one in or out."

"When was the last time anyone saw her?"

"Three hours ago. We're looking for her, Sir. She's here somewhere but we aren't sure where."

Fitz threw everything off his desk. "The first daughter has been missing for three hours and no one thought to inform me until now? Someone go find my daughter!"

Tom and Daniel ran out of the room with Cyrus behind them thinking of every place that Karen could be.

"What are you doing here?" Olivia yelled. She grabbed Karen's arm and pulled her into the apartment closing and locking the door behind her. "Where are your agents? Does your father know you left?"

"Wow, chill out Liv. I needed to talk to you," she said taking some popcorn.

"There are phones. You can call me anytime, you know. Where are your agents?"

"I ditched them. I wanted to see you. How are you?"

I'm fine. You won't be when Fitz finds out that you left. How did you manage to leave without your details?"

"Through the tunnels to Blaire House and out the back. My agents thought I was in the bathroom. Dad misses you."

"Karen, let's not…"

"Liv, I'm serious. He's been on edge for the past month. He's constantly yelling at someone. And when he's not yelling he's a zombie. Cyrus and I have been forcing him to eat. We have to remind him that he has to shower and get to meetings on time. Dad's not dad anymore. He's not happy. You make him happy. I do too but he needs you. Why did you leave?"

"It's complicated, Karen. Your father and I just weren't working out. I love your dad, I always will. Fitz is the best man I've ever met. He's a great father to you. He's an amazing friend."

"So why leave him if you love him?"

"It was best for both of us. I love him but we are complete opposites."

Karen finished the bowl of popcorn that Olivia had. "I'm not really a child, Liv. I've heard Mom and Dad fight about everything. You can tell me anything."

"You know how your father is."

"Over protective, demanding, controlling, caring."

"Exactly. And I know that he's only doing it for our own good but there's a limit. Those nights that I came over to the Residence, your dad had a couple agents come get me and take me there. And at first I understood that but he's gone a bit overboard."

"He's just worried because of what happened to Jerry. And then you left, he's worried that you might leave again. You gave him back the ring. He sits there and stares at it all day. He wants to be with you."

"I know he does. And I want to be with him. But I can't keep going along with him controlling me Karen. I have a business to run. I have people who need me. I tried for as long as I could to keep him happy. I tried to keep him sure that I was safe and all that he needed."

Karen got up to look around the apartment. She looked in the dining room and saw all the boxes lined up. "Are you putting things in storage?"

"No, I'm actually moving."

"Moving? But Liv, you and Dad are going to get back together. How are you going to do that if you move? Please, Liv, don't move. What if I talk to Dad? I can make him understand that you need space."

Olivia walked over to Karen in the dining room, pulling her in for a hug. "I'll be a phone call away. No matter where I am. If you need me, just call. You know that I'll be there whenever you need me."

Karen pulled away from Liv after several minutes and sat back down on the couch.

"Mr. President, we haven't found her. She's not on the grounds," Tom said in the doorway.

"Keep looking, I have to make a phone call," Fitz said dismissing him.

He dialed the number and waited.

As Olivia went to follow Karen, her cell phone rang. She looked at the number and looked at Karen. "I think they know you're gone." Liv clicked answer on her phone and held it to her ear. "Hello, Cyrus."

"It's me. I need your help," Fitz told her.

"Fitz, I…"

"I just need this one thing. Karen's gone. The secret service lost her several hours ago. I need you to find her, please. Can you find my daughter?"

"Yes. But Fitz…"

"I'll let you get to work. Thank you Olivia."

Fitz hung up the phone before Olivia could say any more. "He definitely knows that you are gone. You've been missing for hours. I should probably take you back to the White House. Get your coat and we'll go."

Olivia called Fitz and told her to meet her at the back of the White House.

Liv pulled through the circle drive and stepped out of the car with Karen behind her. Fitz stood at the top of the stairs outside the door until he saw Karen. He met Karen half way down the steps pulling her tightly to him.

"What the hell were you doing! Where've you been?"

"I'm sorry, Dad; I just wanted…" Karen started before Liv jumped in.

"It's my fault. I wanted to spend some time with her so I snuck her out of the White House. Don't be mad at her. I should have asked if I could take her with me but I thought she might want some time away from her details. I'm sorry I didn't ask. Karen, I'm glad I got to spend some time with you. Remember what I told you."

"I will, thanks Liv. I'll talk to you later?"

"Anytime, Kare." Olivia watched Karen go inside with her agents. "I should get going."

"Thank you for finding her," Fitz said taking a step toward her.

"She was with me. I was trying to tell you that on the phone. I'm sorry I didn't tell you that she was with me. I just wanted to spend some time with her."

"How did she sneak out?" Olivia gave him a blank stare unsure what to say. "The guards are supposed to notify me whenever you're on the grounds for any reason. You didn't come get her."

"The tunnels then out the back of Blaire House. Don't be upset with her. She was just having a hard time. I told her that she can call me whenever. Just because you and I… I'll always be there for her."

"Can we go inside and talk? I know it's late. Have you eaten yet?"

"I can't Fitz. I've got things I need to do."

"Who is he?"

"What?"

"The guy, who's the guy? Can you tell me so I can get over this?"

"There is no guy. I'm not seeing anyone. I have an early morning. Please don't punish her because I didn't ask you if I could take her. I'm sorry you worried. You should stop yelling at everyone. Take your issues out on me."

"Livie, I screwed up. I know I did. Forgive me and let's move on. We're supposed to be together. Just forgive me."

"Fitz, it's not about forgiving you. It's about other things."

"Come inside and let's discuss it. I'll make it right with you, I promise. Please, Livie."

"Fitz, I have to go. Maybe after a while, we can talk about things. For now, you need to focus on you and your children. Do what it is that you want to do to make your mark."

Olivia went to her car and left Fitz standing on the steps alone. He watched her pull away before he went in to find Karen.

"Why did you sneak out to find Olivia?" he asked when he found her in her bedroom.

"You needed to see her. And she needed to see reason. The two of you belong together. You breathe in sync. Don't you see that she needs you and you need her?"

"I'm not the one who walked away. And I am not discussing this with you. You know you are supposed to take your detail with you wherever you go. For God sake Karen, what if something happened to you? What if there was some sort of emergency and no one could find you? What if…"

"That's a lot of 'what if' to place on a few hours that I was gone. I'm perfectly fine. I'm here and safe now. I'm sorry that I worried you. I didn't think you wanted me to see her."

"You can talk to Olivia any time that you want. Just please tell me that you want to leave so that you can talk to her. Liv and I might not be together but she does care about you. A blind man can see that."

"Alright, thanks dad. I'm going to bed now."

"Good, night Kare."


	27. You Should Start To Date

Fitz had been a bit calmer over the two weeks that passed since he last saw Olivia. He'd stopped yelling and being so demanding. He was determined to get Olivia back no matter the cost. Even she told him that they were meant to be together.

"I think you should start to date someone," Karen said barging into his meeting in the Oval with Cyrus.

"Karen, now is a bad time. And we will discuss that later, along with you barging in here," Fitz told her.

"Wait, she might have a point," Cyrus added. "What's your point?"

"I was thinking about it. If you started to date someone, Olivia might come back sooner to you, to us. She loves you so she's not going to leave you forever. I just thought maybe making her a bit jealous would bring her back. Liv hates to see you with other women, even for political reasons," Karen reasoned.

"The kid has a point, Fitz. Liv would come back sooner," Cyrus said. He saw the look Fitz was giving him and was a bit afraid.

"I love Olivia. It's childish to make her jealous of someone woman that I don't even like."

"Hey, it was a child's idea."

"I am not a child! I'm fifteen. It is childish but I think she'd fall for it."

Fitz shot Cyrus a glance making him know to leave. He grabbed his things and said goodnight to the two of them and left for the day.

"You can call Olivia. I'll have Tom drive you over there if you want to spend some time with her." Karen immediately looked away to avoid the stare from her father. "You've already talked to her and are going to see her, aren't you?"

"No. I haven't talked to Liv about coming to see her. I'm not sure where she is. She might be busy."

"Olivia is at her apartment. But it's also only six so it's possible that she's at work. I'll call her, maybe she can come get you AND your agent and go to dinner." Before Karen could say anything else, Fitz had dialed Liv's cell phone number. "It's disconnected. What's the new number?"

"She's probably at her office. You should call there."

Fitz dialed the number for OPA office and waited for an answer.

"Olivia Pope and Associates, this is Abby."

"I need to talk to Olivia. Is she there?" Fitz asked. As he was on the phone, Karen snuck out of the Oval quickly pulling out her cell phone to call Liv.

"I'm sorry, Sir. Olivia doesn't work here anymore. Is there anything I can help you with?"

"What the hell do you mean she doesn't work there? It's her firm. Where the hell is she?"

"Sir, if I can ask who this is, I might be able to help you."

"It's the President, where the hell is she!"

"Mr. President, I'm so sorry. I didn't recognize your voice. Olivia doesn't work here anymore. She is a managing partner but she doesn't work here. Is there something I can do for you?"

"Yes, get me Olivia Pope now! Tell her to call me."

Fitz slammed the phone down and left the Oval going in search of his daughter.

Karen snuck into a control closet and fished out her cell phone. She sent Olivia a text figuring she'd get that faster.

After hearing Fitz walk past screaming her name, she was able to get out of the closet and go to her room.

Olivia was putting the finishing touches on her new home office. She hung a couple pictures of her and Fitz together at different events. Even though she gave him back the ring, she still loved him. She missed him more now than she did before. In the years that they had been together off and on, she had never been more than a few blocks from him for more than a week or so. As she stepped off the latter, she saw her phone light up with a text message. She picked it up and slid her finger across the screen to unlock it.

From Karen: 911 he knows ur gone srry

Olivia quickly sent her a message back.

To Karen: don't tell him more. I'll handle it.

From Karen: he's sup pissed

To Karen: delete all messages, logs, my name from ur phone now

From Karen: you'll have to deal with him soon, the yeller is back

Olivia put her phone down and contemplated her next move. She wasn't hiding from him. Liv was in plain sight. She wouldn't have gone far without telling him. Eventually, he would know exactly where she was based on what she had been saying to him before she left. She still loved him, she still wanted to marry him, and she was still his. Nothing would change that, ever. Liv sat in her office chair wondering what her next move could be.

"Where is Karen?" Fitz yelled at his daughter's agents.

"She just went in her bedroom," the male answered.

Fitz went into her bedroom without knocking. "You know where she is, tell me now!"

"Dad, I seriously don't know where she is. She never told me where she was going. I just know that when I went to her apartment, everything was boxed up. She was moving the next day. She never said to where."

"You've known that she was out of the city for more than two weeks and I'm just know hearing about this? Don't you think it was important to tell me?"

"It's not my job. If Liv wanted you to know that she was moving, she would have told you. She's going to be mad at me now for saying anything." Fitz was more than annoyed with her about keeping this a secret. She should have told him. As he thought about things, he heard Karen's phone ring. "Hello?"

"Put him on the phone," Liv instructed Karen.

"It's for you," she said handing Fitz the phone.

"What," Fitz answered.

"Hi," Liv said.

The second that Fitz heard her voice, he calmed down. "Hi."

"How about you give Karen back her phone and we can chat without her?"

"I'll call you."

"No, Fitz. I'll call your phone."

"I don't believe you. You won't call me back."

"Fitz, I'm going to hang up and then I'll call your cell phone so we can talk. I tried to call your phone but you wouldn't answer. I promise to call you."

Fitz hung up her phone and threw it on the bed pulling out his cell phone as it rang.

"Livie?"

"Yes Fitz."

"Where are you? Why did you move and not tell me? Even though we aren't together, I still care about your safety. Please Olivia, just tell me where you are and that you're safe."

"I'm fine, I'm more than safe."

"Good, but where are you? Are you on the island? Olivia, please tell me that the brain tumor didn't come back. I'll come to you, wherever you are. Just tell me, please."

"I don't have another brain tumor, Fitz. Jason made me go get another scan. It's a clear scan, everything looks good. You don't need to worry about me."

"But I do. I do worry about you," Fitz told her. He went to his bedroom and closed the door. "Come back to D.C. we can work things out."

"Wow that sounds like an order. Is that an executive order or an order by someone I'm dating?"

"It's not an order. But I'll make it an executive order if you would come back. Wait, you said dating. Not dated. You said dating. Are we dating?"

"We are. You don't want to date me?"

"Livie, I'm confused. If we're dating then why did you leave? Why do I not know where you are? Why do I have a ring that was on your finger before? Why the hell are you not here in D.C. with me?"

"Fitzgerald, that's a lot of questions. You have to learn that you can't control me. You don't get to…"

"I do not control you."

"You do. You try to control me. But from what I've heard, you've been doing much better. You're actually trying. I've heard that you are not yelling anymore. And that you've stopped being so demanding. You're trying."

"Yes, I am." Fitz had a theory he wanted to test. "I'm thinking of dating someone."

"Oh?" her voice seemed a bit shaken to him.

"Yeah, I don't know though. I was just thinking about it. But if we're still dating then I shouldn't."

"Fitz, you should do what you think is best for you. Do what you need. If you want or need to date someone else, then you… you do what you need to do. I'm sure whoever you find will be nice. She'll be good for you. Whoever you choose to date, she'll be good. She'll be a better choice. She'll be a better choice than me."

"Livie…"

"I should go, Fitz. I'm sure you have things you could be doing. Goodbye Mr. President."

"Olivia…" Before Fitz could say anything else, she hung up.

"What'd she say?" Karen asked quietly from the doorway.

Fitz sat down on the bed and stared at his phone as he answered. "I think we broke up."


	28. Where We Going?

"I'm sure you two didn't break up. How do you know?" Karen asked as she moved towards the bed and sat next to him.

"I told her I was thinking about dating someone and she told me I should. She said that whoever I chose would be better than her. Where is she?" Fitz said, holding back the tears.

"Dad, I'm sorry. I really don't know where she is. Why would you tell her that though? You know Liv would tell you to do it. If she thought you jumping off a bridge would make you happy she'd tell you to do it. Then she'd follow right after because you wouldn't live from the fall so that's a bad example," they both laughed. "Liv wants you to be happy; however you can be happy, she wants you to do it."

Fitz thought for a moment. "But if she wants to be with me, why wouldn't she say that? She knows that I'd wait for her."

"Because the last time that she said she would wait for you, you called her a mistress," Karen reminded him. "You asked her to wait for you instead of marrying Edison, and when she told you that she would wait, you had already found out the truth. And you heard what you didn't like so you punished her. You pushed Liv away and called her a mistress claiming that marrying her is political suicide. All Olivia wants is for you to be happy. If you being with someone else would make you happy, then she will stand beside you with the fake smile and pretend to be happy. She's done it all along with you and mom."

"This was your idea, Karen! You said to date someone else."

"I said that, but I never said to tell Olivia you were thinking about dating someone else. I'm fifteen, what the hell do I know about love?"

Fitz had to smile and hug her tight. "You're smart, Kare. Very smart. Olivia is going to come back. I just have to show her that I've changed. I know where she's coming from talking about how I control things. I'm going to need your help though."

"I'm in."

Karen and Fitz thought up his plan, which was very simple. All he had to do was stop being demanding, controlling, and stop the yelling. Each day, Karen would tell Liv about his attitude and how well he was adjusting and she would come back. At least, that's what Fitz hoped the plan would do.

For one month Karen sent Olivia text messages daily about how Fitz was doing. Every now and then she talked on the phone to her. Things were going great for the plan in action. Fitz was back to being himself. He missed Liv more and more each day but was coping with it. Liv would always tell Karen to tell Fitz hello for her or wish him luck on one thing or another.

When Olivia was content with Fitz fixing himself she set her plan in place.

"Really, Liv? That's great! He's going to love it!" Karen screamed her excitement through the phone.

"But you can't tell him. Okay? I've got everyone working on this surprise. So don't ruin it. Understood?" Liv asked her.

"Yes, I got it. I better go calm down a bit before he comes up to the Residence. Talk to you tomorrow?"

"Yes, have a good night, Kare."

Olivia hung up the phone with Karen before calling Lauren.

"Ms. Pope?" Lauren asked seeing the id.

"Hey Lauren, I think it's time. Karen is packing his bag now. Do you think he can leave in the next hour?"

Lauren looked at his schedule. "Yes ma'am. I'll have Air Force One ready for takeoff in half an hour. He should be arriving around 7 tonight then. He's going to love this."

"We'll see in a bit. Thank you for all your help Lauren. I'll talk to you later."

"Have a good weekend, Ms. Pope." Lauren hung up and dialed Cyrus's extension. "Everything is in place. He can leave in the next hour."

Cyrus thanked her and went down to the Oval. Fitz was just finishing the daily briefings report and tucking them away when he walked in.

"Three day weekend, Cyrus. I plan on beating Karen at bowling. Any plans for you?" Fitz asked making small talk.

"Sir, there's been a change in plans. We have to get you out to Marine One to Air Force One. There's a situation that desperately needs your attention," Cyrus told him sternly.

"It's nothing that you can't handle? Why the last minute decision?"

"I'm sorry, Sir. You have to go with the agents and get there right away. I'll brief you over the phone."

Cyrus walked Fitz out to Marine One with Tom and Daniel following straight behind them. Fitz was confused about the last minute change. Marine One landed at the Naval Base where they kept Air Force One.

"Tom, where we going?"

Tom didn't answer him, leaving him to wonder.

Air Force One landed somewhere that Fitz was unsure of. Tom and Daniel got off the plane and headed to the waiting car.

"Will one of you tell me where we're going?"

"We're almost there, Sir," Tom told him.

Fitz got in the back of the car easily falling asleep from the silence and the easy ride.

When they arrived at their destination, the door opened and Fitz felt a light kiss on his lips.


	29. You Ran Again

Fitz felt the light kiss on his lips and slowly opened his eyes. Right beside his was Olivia. She looked just the same as she did to him. Always beautiful, adorable, sexy.

"Hi," he whispered and kissed her.

"Hi. Have a nice trip?" she asked sitting beside him.

"Olivia, where are we?"

"Why don't you take a look? I think you'll recognize it."

Fitz sat up and looked out the window. Beyond Olivia he could see the Vermont house with the orchards behind it.

"What are we doing here? I'm dreaming, aren't I? I miss you so much that I'm dreaming about it. About the plan we had."

"No, Fitz. Come on, come inside."

Olivia pulled Fitz behind her out of the car and up the front steps of the house. She let him in first so he could look around.

"It looks lived in. I thought I sold it. Cyrus said…"

"Cyrus lied. I asked him to. You wanted to sell this house… our house. I couldn't let that happen. Vermont is important to us. It's the one thing that's kept us alive this long. I came to remind myself of our dream a few months ago. When I found out I had the brain tumor, I came to the house and saw the for sale sign out front. I thought you gave up on us. On our family but I came to realize that I was the one you were giving up on. Maybe not completely giving up on me but enough to want to sell our house. A house that, by the way, you couldn't sell to begin with, no matter how much you may have wanted to sell it. But when I saw the sign, I called the realtor and paid whatever amount necessary to keep it. But the thing with that is you put the house in my name. And because you did that, you have no choice to sell it. I took the house back and got ready for things to happen. I moved in the day after Karen showed up at my apartment."

"You've been in Vermont the whole time?"

"Yes. I've been exactly where I am supposed to be. I just got here a little earlier than you did." She watched Fitz walk around the living room to the kitchen looking around.

He stopped in front of a cabinet, staring in it. "There's jam," he whispered.

"Every flavor. It may not be the best but I left them for you to try."

"You mean for the past three months you've been sitting up here making jam by yourself? You were under my nose the whole time and I never saw you?"

Olivia nodded preparing herself for whatever he might say. "Fitz, you had to become yourself without me, or Mellie. You needed to work on yourself and come to terms with who you are alone. I don't define you. Neither does Mellie or Karen or Teddy or your Presidency. And while you did that, I made sure I was a person that I liked, that I was content with. So even if you didn't want to be with me, if you found someone else, I would still be able to live here with our dream and see what happened. I thought eventually you might come here or figure out that this is where I was. Even if you found another woman to…"

"There's never been anyone else. I never dated anyone else. It was all…"

"Karen's idea, I know, she told me."

"When? Why would she tell you?"

"I talk to Karen every day in one way or another. When you told me you were thinking of dating someone else, I dropped it. Each day that I talked to her, I'd ask how you were. But for several weeks after you told me you'd be dating someone, I stopped asking. I never really wanted to hear about how you and your new…whoever was. Karen would tell me about her day, ask about certain things, boys mostly, and then she'd ask how I was, where I was. Karen still doesn't know. I didn't want her to slip and tell you that I was here. As cruel as that sounds, I didn't want you to know until I knew you were okay. Several weeks after I stopped asking about you, she let it out of the bag. She told me it was her idea for you to start dating someone. Even for pretend. She told me you were unhappy and there was no need for me to worry or be jealous because there's only one other girl in your life and that's her. Karen knew that we are supposed to be together because you sulked around for weeks. And I don't blame you, I did too. I wanted you to be the best that you can alone, without me. It looks like you've been doing great. I see on the news that you've done wonderful things for the country."

Fitz was silent for several minutes keeping his back to her. He listened to everything she had to say before opening his mouth.

"You've done great, Fitz. What are you going…" she started before he cut her off.

"You ran again!" he screamed at her. "You ran for the millionth time and now I've been called to you. That's a change. But you ran away!"

Olivia poured a glass of Scotch and handed it to him. "63. The best." Fitz downed it fast and set the glass on the counter. "I knew you'd think that. You can think that I ran away but really think about it, Fitz. If I ran away would I be here?"

Fitz thought about it for a minute. "You ran away from me. But you were running towards us."

"You understand now?"

"Your logic seems illogical but I do understand."

Olivia smiled and kissed his lips pressing against his body. Within seconds Fitz had her in bed with him each showing each other exactly how much love they shared.


	30. It's A Surprise

"Karen?" Fitz asked hearing her voice. He went downstairs and found Olivia with her and Teddy in a bedroom laughing. "What are you three doing?"

Olivia and Karen jumped at the sound of his voice and quickly picked up Teddy to leave the room and close the door.

"Good morning Fitz, you're up early," Olivia said kissing his cheek.

"It's ten in the morning. What's in there that you don't want me to see?"

"We have a surprise for you. But not until later. Tomorrow. But I'll tell you this afternoon."

Karen took Teddy to the living room and sat on the floor playing with his blocks.

"Why not tell me now? I'll find out soon and we can let surprise be a quick one."

"Nope, can't do that until everyone is here. They wanted to see your face when I give you your surprise."

"Is it a car?" Olivia laughed at him. "A boat? A key to a city?"

"No, no, and no. It's none of those."

Fitz moved behind her and kissed her cheek before whispering in her ear. "Is it a sexual surprise?"

"Why would I want anyone else to see the look on your face if I was giving you that?" Olivia laughed.

"So definitely not sexual."

"Stop guessing, Dad, you'll never get it right," Karen yelled across the room.

"She knows what it is! I'll get her to tell me."

"Karen, you wanted that car for your birthday right?"

"Not going to work, Dad. Olivia and I already discussed not telling you the surprise. Plus she signed a contract that I get a car if I keep my mouth shut."

"Traitor! I'm your father, you can't side with her."

"You'll side with her a lot more when you get your surprise."

Fitz waited for hours for his surprise from Olivia. No one was giving him any hints about it. Around six, Marine One landed in the back yard. He stepped outside on the back porch and watched Cyrus come off the helicopter with Ella in tow.

"What are you doing here?" Fitz asked when he got close enough to hear.

"You'll find out soon. Here, take your goddaughter, she's a bit heavy."

Cyrus handed Ella to Fitz and went inside looking for Olivia.

"Will someone please tell me what's going on here? I've had enough of the secrets!" Fitz scolded making everyone turn to him.

Everyone smiled and continued what they were doing. He set Ella down next to Teddy to play and walked over to Olivia dragging her upstairs to their room.

"Don't get me wrong, I love having everyone here. But why exactly is everyone here?" Fitz asked her closing the door.

"It's part of your surprise."

"I get that. Now what is this surprise? I would really like to know before I go insane."

"I can't tell you because we are all supposed to be together at dinner when you find out."

"How much longer?"

"Ten minutes. Ten minutes and I'll tell you your surprise. Just relax, Fitz. I promise that you'll love it. At least you better love it, I can't take it back."

Olivia left the bedroom and hurried to finish dinner. She got everyone settled at the table and prepared them all.

"Well Fitz, everyone here knows this secret. Tom, Daniel, Karen, Cyrus, Teddy, Ella and I all know. They're pretty excited about this."

"Okay, okay, everyone's excited I get it. Now tell me!"

Olivia stood next to him looking him straight in the eyes. "I've been working on this for months. Everything is set and ready to go. Tomorrow at noon, you and I are getting married here in the orchard."


	31. Author's Note 2

Hey readers!

I know it's been a while since I updated last. Soooooooooo sorry! Life's gotten a bit hectic lately with school and work so I don't have so much time to write anymore. I hope to have another chapter up by Thursday this week but not sure if my current schedule will allow it. This is not the end of the story, I promise. There is more to come! Keep a watch for it and as soon as I get some free time I will post a chapter. Thanks for all the follows, favorites, and reviews! I love to read what everyone thinks will happen next!

Have a good week!


	32. We Are Getting Married

"We're getting married?" Fitz screamed once he picked himself up off the floor. "You've planned a wedding without telling me and we're getting married? Tomorrow?"

Olivia laughed as she steadied him on his feet. "Yes, tomorrow we are getting married. Not a big wedding but everyone here, and David Rosen, Abby, Quinn, and Huck. Just a simple quiet wedding."

"You've been up here planning a wedding?"

"Didn't I just say that? It's what you wanted. We're getting married tomorrow. Fitz, you knew we would eventually."

Fitz's face turned into confusion. It seemed like a hundred years ago was when they decided to get married but it was not. Tomorrow they'd be married and he'd actually have Olivia to himself. He wouldn't have to share her with anyone.

"Dad?" Karen said his name and he turned to face her. "Liv's been working on this. You are marrying her tomorrow. What don't you understand?"

Fitz stared at Olivia watching her breathe, keeping the same as his. "Why are we getting married tomorrow?"

"THAT IS A STUPID QUESTION!" Cyrus screamed.

"Cyrus, it's alright," Olivia told him. "It wasn't a thing he was ever told about. Give him a chance."

Fitz went to get his coat and go outside walking towards the orchards. Everyone watched him walk away a bit stunned that he was doing that.

"Liv, go after him," Karen told her. "He's being rather stupid about this. He's wanted to marry you for how long? And now that it's actually going to happen he's walking away!"

"He's processing. He'll be back soon."

They all sat at the table silently eating and waited for Fitz to come back. Olivia made him a plate and set it in the microwave to keep it warm for him while they cleaned up. She put Teddy to bed when everyone else started to calm down for the night. Fitz still hadn't come back yet. Liv put her coat on with her boots and started down the walk towards the orchards. After twenty minutes of walking, she finally found him.

"So?" she said making her presence known.

"Two weeks ago you were against marrying me. I still have your ring. Why did you change your mind?" he asked standing up.

"I never changed my mind about marrying you because it was always going to happen. We've always planned on getting married. Did you change your mind about marrying me? Do you even want to marry me?"

"Of course I do. But I don't understand why you would leave D.C. to come up here and plan a wedding. Why couldn't you do that in D.C. with me?"

"Because you needed to change. You needed to become you as a person and not as a political team. You needed to change your controlling ways with me and realize that I'm a person that you cannot make do everything you want like a puppet. I came up here to fix myself and prepare things for this… for tomorrow. I knew the perfect time would be soon when Karen said that you stopped scaring the shit out of the West Wing. We didn't make a plan where we go our separate ways because you and I both know that that is never an option. No matter how many times we may break up we are always back together, it's only a matter of time. So tomorrow we are getting married. We are getting married in front of our friends and family with David Rosen officiating. I have Cyrus's suit, your suit, Teddy's suit, Karen's dress and Ella's dress all ready to go. Everything has been taken care of. And when we return to D.C. you can have a big reception party if that's what you want. We are getting married tomorrow at noon. My gladiators will be here at ten and we are doing this. I'm tired of this whole running away only for you to drag me back thing that we've been doing for five years. I'm done with it. Now go back to the house and eat dinner, everyone else is asleep."

Fitz walked towards her and pulled her waist to him. She put her hands on his chest as he bent down to kiss her.

"I thought I was supposed to be the controlling one?"

"Sometimes I'd like to take charge and make you deal with it."


	33. No, Let's Do The Vows

Abby, David, Quinn, and Huck all arrived at eleven the next morning. Karen was helping Olivia get her dress on with Ella playing beside them. Cyrus, Tom, Daniel, and Teddy were in the other room with Fitz attempting to calm his nerves.

"She's going to run. I can feel it," Fitz told them. "Olivia is going to run away in the next hour. She'll back out."

"Fitz, she is not going to run. This was her idea. She does not back out of her own plans. You ought to know her better than that by now. Olivia is on the other side of the house getting ready with your daughter and goddaughter. She's going to be here. She's going to meet you out in the orchard in exactly thirty seven minutes and she will be yours for good," Cyrus informed him.

The men went down to the orchard ready to start and finish this wedding. After several minutes, Olivia walked out with the girls to the orchard. She had her hair pinned away from her face and looked incredible in the ivory floor length, halter dress that showed off her figure. Fitz couldn't stop staring at her as she walked out to the orchard. She skipped the music and went down to meet him.

"David agreed that we could skip the dearly beloved crap and skip to the vows. But we can skip the vows if you want," Liv told Fitz.

"No, let's do the vows. I'll go first if you want." Olivia nodded and let him go on. "Livie, we have ups and downs," he started taking her hands in his. "Some ups but a lot of downs. You are the most infuriating, dangerous, troubling, secretive, demanding woman that I have ever met. But to the flip side of that you are incredible, smart, beautiful, loving, perfect woman that I have ever met. You are my other half. And I know that we're supposed to be together forever. I've known it since you told me what was wrong with my marriage to Mellie. You take care of me when I can't. You love my children like your own. You love me even when you want to kill me. Nothing stops you when you want something. You are very strong and determined, even when you had the brain tumor. And I know that you give in to me a lot. And I don't want you to think that I don't see that. I love that you are you no matter what anyone else says and today, I get to take you as my wife."

Fitz reached up and wiped away a couple of tears falling down her face.

"Fitz, we do have many differences and many similarities. We're both strong willed and very determined to get our way. And I love that one of us is always willing to bend. I know that you've always been willing to give something for me. And now, you don't have to give up anything for us to be together. You can have it all this time. There's nothing standing in the way this time. We've been so many things to each other through the years. We've been friends for so long, then lovers, then together. Today we get to be together forever. And today, I get to show you that I am in this with you. I can't promise not to run again, because I don't know what the future holds for either of us. I can't make promises. I will do my best to show you that I love you no matter what we ever go through. I can't promise not to run but I can promise this. If I ever do run it won't be far because we'll be married. So you can trust that if I do run, I will always be back. I will always be here for you when you need me and even when you don't. So today, I take you as my husband."

Olivia saw the big smile on his face that reached his eyes instantly.

"Well I can't do a lot of follow up on that," David said. "So I pronounce you husband and wife. Mr. President, kiss your bride."


	34. Don't Tell Dad

"It's been a month since our wedding, Livie. We've announced to the public that we are indeed married and we've planned this reception. Now get dressed, we have to get down to the party. Plus I can actually dance with you tonight and not have to hide that I love you," Fitz said kissing her neck.

"I'd be getting dressed a lot faster if you weren't naked and trying to seduce me right now. Get dressed so we can go. I'll see if Karen is ready," she told him walking out of the room.

Liv left the bedroom and tightened her bathrobe going to find Karen. She knocked on Karen's bedroom door and went in seeing her attempting to zip up her dress.

"Let me do that."

"Thanks, are you excited for tonight?" Karen asked her.

"Sure, aren't you?"

"These are people I don't know. I'll only know you and Dad, and Mom and Andrew. I wanted to invite someone but I didn't think it would be appropriate. It's kind of a family thing tonight."

"Good to know that you include the Prime Minister, Vice President, Queen, Prince William, Princess Kate, and all those other strangers as family," Liv laughed. "Who were you going to invite? A girlfriend from school?"

"More like a boyfriend from school. Don't tell Dad!"

"Give me details and I'll think about not cluing him in."

"His name's Scott. He's a senior. He's been super cool about everything, especially since Gerry died."

"So you've known him longer than that?"

"Yeah we have a few classes together. He's a Senator's son. So he's used to the political side of families. His parents were in a fake marriage too. But his mom is a super nice person, not like mine. Both of them are really nice actually. He asked me to go to holiday dance with him and I told him I'd think about it. He even knows my agent's names. But even cuter, he calls me Karebear."

"Sounds like you two are already dating."

"I guess we kind of are. We have lunch every day together. Don't tell Dad please. I don't want him freaking out about this right now. I'd like to give Scott a running chance."

"Alright, my lips are sealed for right now, but I want to meet him soon. How about I pick you up from school this week and we can meet?"

"Sounds good, but don't tell dad yet. I'll get around to telling him, maybe after I marry someone."

"Can I ask who his parents are?"

"Peter and Marion Caldwell."

"Well, at least his family is a Republican."

Olivia left Karen to put on her makeup and to go get herself dressed. When she went in her bedroom Fitz was just finishing with his tie. She slid into the closet and put on her blue dress to match Fitz's tie. He stood in the doorway to the closet and watched her put on her shoes and makeup. When she finished, he took her hand and led them down to the party with Karen on his other side.

The band instructor turned everyone's attention to Fitz and Olivia as they walked in with the room of applause erupted. They went to the dance floor for their first dance.

The night was going perfect as planned and everyone was having a great time. Fitz and Olivia stood by the doors and said goodnight to people as they walked out. Just as the last people were there, Olivia caught sight of Mellie and Andrew. She silently prayed that whatever Mellie was going to do that she would be civil about things.

"Fitz, Olivia, congratulations," Mellie told them as she walked their way.

"Thank you Mellie, glad you and Andrew could be here," Fitz acknowledged them. "How are things in California?"

"Very good. Andrew's running for governor in the spring."

"You are! I thought Mellie would be. That's great though."

"Nope, not this time. I'd like to stay Senator first."

"Well, I'm glad you all had a nice night," Olivia put in. "We should head up to bed, Fitz. Goodnight."

Fitz went up the stairs with Olivia.

"Did you enjoy tonight?" he asked her.

"It was great. I'm glad it's over though, now we can focus on something a bit more…exciting I guess."

"Oh, and what would this exciting thing be?"

"Take a guess."

"That it will be you and me and Karen and Teddy for a while? No interruptions and I don't have to share you," Fitz asked extremely excited. "I hate having to share you. Now it can be just you and me."

Olivia was a tad bit disappointed but she put on a smile for him. "Exactly, just us."


	35. Goodnight Everyone

Olivia sat in her office preparing for her day. She looked at her schedule to see if she could fit in a little time to see the doctor. But between coordinating a dinner, preparing her speech for congress, reading to a group of elementary children and feeding the homeless today, there was no way she was going to make it.

She stood up before her assistant, Nikki, opened the door. She pulled her jacket closed and headed out the door ready for the day.

Throughout the day, Liv made sure that she stayed hydrated and ate healthy things. She started to skip her nightly glass of wine the week before. Fitz had been so busy with the current issue in the Eastern world that he had barely had time to come up to the Residence. She made sure that she took him his lunch and dinner when he wasn't able to come up. Liv was trying to get a few minutes alone with him but his schedule wouldn't allow it.

"Hey Livie," he smiled when he actually saw her for the first time in nearly two days coming into the Oval. "Looks like I'm going to miss dinner again."

"Oh, it's alright Fitz. I'll feed Teddy dinner. Will you come up to bed tonight? I know you slept on the couch in here last night. I'd really prefer you come to bed with me."

"I didn't want to wake you. We'll have to see what we can get done tonight."

"Twenty three people had to spend the night here last night by their duty. Ten of them left at one in the morning, six left at four, two left at six, and five stayed the entire night and are still here. I know it is their job but you do need to let them go home and get some sleep. I would like to spend some time with my husband eventually. I brought you and the team dinner. Come to bed soon if you can."

"I'll try Livie. You look exhausted, you should go to bed." Fitz gave her a quick kiss and sent her to the Residence.

Olivia went upstairs and fed Teddy dinner before giving him a bath and putting him in his crib for the night. She went to Karen's room and helped her finish her math homework.

"How's Scott?"

"He's still great. I told him that I would go to the holiday dance with him. Now I need to find a dress. Would you help me with that?"

"Sure, I'll put it in the schedule and we'll go this week. You do know that your father is going to want to meet him before you go anywhere with him. Even if he is Peter Caldwell's son. And with that, I can't promise he won't go overboard, you are his only daughter. I think you will be good after he meets Scott though."

"Hopefully, I don't want him to scare Scott away. He's perfect. I'd marry him now if Dad would let me."

"How about we not tell him that part? He doesn't need to have a heart attack as well. You should head to bed, it's late."

"Okay, night Liv."

"Night sweetie."

Olivia closed the door and went to the master bedroom. She was truly exhausted. The past week had never been a dull moment. Someone was always asking if she needed anything or asking her opinion on something.

She laid in bed for hours hoping to sleep but it never came. Liv looked at the clock on the nightstand. 1:17 am. Fitz still had not come to bed. She put on her robe over her pajamas and found her way down to the West Wing. Looking in the conference room, she saw about fifteen people sitting at the table nearly falling asleep talking about the issue.

"I have a solution to this problem," Olivia said. Everyone in the room turned to see her and stood up.

"Madam First Lady, we didn't notice you come in," one of them said.

"I see that, you all need to go home. Get some sleep. Whatever the problem is right now, it will still be a problem in nine hours. Go home."

"But ma'am, the President is still in the Oval. We can't go home."

"The President will not be in the Oval for much longer, go home and get some sleep. You've all been here for far too long."

Olivia continued down the hall towards the Oval. Lauren sat at her desk lightly sipping coffee.

"Ma'am, I'm sorry they're still working," Lauren told her.

"Go home Lauren. No one is working any longer tonight. Goodnight, Lauren." Olivia opened the door to the Oval and stepped in. "Gentlemen, this meeting is over for tonight."

"Liv, we're still…"

"No, Cyrus, you aren't. It's nearly one thirty in the morning. I've sent everyone else home and I'm doing the same with everyone in here. The President is going to bed in his bedroom in the next three minutes and everyone else in this room will also be heading home."

"Livie…"

"Fitzgerald, I am not in the mood. I'm tired and so are all these people. They have to be here because you are here and you need sleep. So does everyone else. You slept on this couch last night and I know it's not comfortable so you are going up to bed with me. Goodnight everyone." She pulled Fitz behind her giving him no choice but to follow her.

"Livie, I was heading to bed soon. We were almost done with the meeting."

"You can be almost done with the meeting tomorrow. I'm tired and so are you, I would like to be able to sleep next to my husband more than once a week. Do I need to pass a First Lady executive order that no one is to be in the West Wing past ten at night? I can figure out a way to do that."

"I'm sure you could. I'm sorry, I'll try harder to be back at the Residence long before midnight."

"Good, now please lets go to bed."


	36. It's Important

"Your friend Abby called and wanted to set up a lunch date with you. I told her tomorrow would be a good time," Nikki told Liv.

"That's fine, thank you. I think we've had enough meetings for the day. I'm going to head to the Residence for the night."

Fitz had been gone for the weekend making it the fifth day that he'd been out of the country. First there was a crisis in Syria, and then the Queen of England called him to speak at Parliament. He hadn't had a lot of time in between to actually call Olivia even to just say goodnight. They were playing phone tag leaving messages to the other. Fitz talked to Karen after school each day and was able to video chat with Teddy before his naps but Olivia's current schedule was so hectic they were on opposite times.

"When's Dad coming back?" Karen asked going through the halls finally finding Olivia.

"Should be soon. It might be in two days. How was your dance with Scott? He is pretty cute. And he has his father's charm."

"It was great! He even matched my dress with his tie. I think my agent Frank spilled it to him. But he was adorable."

"Good, we'll have to have your father meet him sometime soon."

"Yeah, I didn't get the chance to tell him that I was going to the dance with Scott. But Dad likes the Caldwell's so I think he'll be okay with it."

Olivia said goodnight to the kids and headed to bed. She had scheduled the doctor to come in a bit earlier than normal so she could be checked out.

"Mrs. Grant, you are indeed pregnant. Three months by the looks of it. Want me to print the ultrasound picture?" her doctor asked. She could see the little blob of a baby on the screen inside her.

"That'd be great. Thank you for coming in early today. I wanted to do this a couple week ago but I don't want my staff to know that something's up."

"Perfectly understood. Your secret's safe with me. I'm sure the President is going to be excited."

"Hopefully he will be. He should be back tomorrow and I can tell him then."

Olivia fixed her shirt and put her jacket on before leaving the exam room with the agents. She sent Fitz a message telling him there was something they needed to talk about when he got back.

When Fitz received her text, he got Air Force One ready to go. Immediately, worried that something was absolutely wrong, he wasn't going to waste any time to get home.

"Ma'am," Nikki announced her presence in the First Lady's office as she watched Olivia stare off into space.

"Yes, Nikki?"

"I have your daily schedule here. We'll be ready to go in thirty minutes."

Olivia looked at the schedule Nikki handed her. Brunch with the Speaker of the House and Vice President, food drive at the church, preparing the chef for the State Dinner, reading over the State of the Union address, lunch with Abby, Karen's soccer game, meeting at the Pentagon, and Teddy's bath. It was going to be a very long day.

Fitz landed just in time for Karen's soccer game but was called into the Situation room the minute he landed. He tried to force his way out of it but Cyrus commented that he needed to be at the White House and that Liv was showing support for Karen for both of them.

After Olivia's long day, she was ready to turn in but was informed that Fitz was home. She went to the Oval and saw it was all clear. On the way back to the Residence, she passed Cyrus's office.

"Where's Fitz?" she asked him once he put the phone down.

"In the Situation room still. He's a bit stretched thin today. He wasn't supposed to be back until tomorrow but something brought him back early. You seem stressed. What's the matter with you?"

"Is there any way that I could have all of five minutes alone with my husband? Preferably within the next twenty four hours. I would like to tell him something before someone else does."

"Liv, you realize that you are the First Lady, and although you don't need an appointment to see your husband your schedule do not coincide together until the State of the Union, right?"

"And if I have to wait until the State of the Union to tell him this, I will put your head on the chopping block and cut it myself. Find me five damn minutes that I can speak to him alone!"

Cyrus was a bit scared at her tone. "Whatever it is, it's important."

"Of course it is! I wouldn't be wasting all this time trying to get him for some meaningless little detail."

"Alright, I'll see what I can find between your two schedules."


	37. It Doesn't Work Like That

"CYRUS!" Olivia screamed coming down the hall to his office, scaring the shit out of everyone around. "You make his damn schedule, you maintain the schedule. Why has it been a damn week since I asked you for five minutes and I still have yet to see Fitz?"

Cyrus scurried to close the door to his office. "The Syrian government has made threats to explode New York, Iraq is on the edge of taking us to war again, the Vice President has the flu, we have three bills being despised by Congress, and we have a health care budget that isn't working out too well. It's been a hell of a week to find five minutes for the President to even take a piss outside the Oval. So excuse me for not having the hour it takes to find five minutes for you to speak with him."

Olivia clenched her teeth ready to strangle Cyrus. Beyond pissed off she wanted to scream. "I have not seen my husband in person in ten days, four hours and forty five minutes. THAT is unacceptable. I am not Mellie and I will not be treated as if I was her. Why the hell do I have to do everything myself!" She stomped down to the Oval moving Lauren out of her way with Cyrus following behind her. She looked at his schedule and pointed it out to Cyrus. "I want him in the Residence at ten tonight and not a minute later, are we understood Cyrus?"

"Liv, it doesn't work like that. I can't just…"

"Are we understood? I may be the First Lady but I am still Olivia Pope and I will bring you to your knees if necessary. Fitzgerald is to be in the Residence at ten tonight or so help me God you will all wish that you never worked here."

"Yes ma'am," Cyrus responded as she went out of the room.

Olivia went to her office attempting to calm down. She was being given the run around by everyone in Fitz's office. He'd been so busy each time she went down to see him and she understood that. As President he was always going to be busy. But she had to tell him she was pregnant before she couldn't hide it anymore. Lately she'd been noticing the little bump in her stomach but was able to cover it with oversized shirts and jackets. Pretty soon though, she'd have to tell everyone that she was pregnant and she couldn't hide it. Her hormones were everywhere on the chart. One second she was content and happy and the next she was screaming at someone. People in her office had begun to fear her more than just the Olivia Pope that they knew.

Liv got herself ready to go to the school that she was supposed to read to the children at. Honestly, she wasn't feeling too well but knew that she couldn't cancel. Being sick was not an option for her. Liv pulled herself together and went on her way to the car ready to go.

When they arrived the principal of the school greeted her at the front doors.

"Madam First Lady it's an honor to meet you. We're so glad you were able to join us today," he told her.

"I'm glad I was able to make it today. Let's not keep these kids waiting any longer for story time," she smiled.

Olivia spent an hour reading a few books to the students and telling them how important it was to read every day. She answered a few questions from the kids about what she liked to read and how she liked living in the White House, simple things a child would ask. As they were about to leave her assistant and staff came towards her bringing her more problems to solve.

"Ma'am, Teddy's nurse has to leave, she has a cold and is at risk of giving it to him. His back up nanny is on vacation," Nikki told her.

"Alright, I'll take him soon as I get back," Liv replied.

"Your associate Quinn called and said something was wrong with Huck. Also, Congressman Shaw is dying for your services. Karen asked if you would be able to pick her up from school today, she's having a bad day I guess. Mr. Beene called and said that he was sorry but the President would not make it up to the Residence before one in the morning. The State of the Union address is waiting on your desk when you arrive, you have to finalize it because the President does not trust his speech writers. Dr. Wilson says that you are due for your exam today. The chef would also like to finalize your plan for the State Dinner and the band team would like your input on some key music during the dinner. You are also supposed to speak at a charity fundraiser tomorrow afternoon and the speech writers insist that you write your own speech first. As well, the Communications Director would like your input on a few things since you are the best." Olivia stood against the wall trying to wrap her head around everything she needed to do. "Ma'am are you alright?"

Nikki looked at her face turning ill. Before she could say anything, Olivia fell to the floor with a pool of blood coming from between her legs.


	38. You Didn't Need To Come

"Ma'am!" Nikki fell to the ground beside Olivia trying to get her to wake up. Three agents came to Liv's side.

"Gladiator is down! Repeat, gladiator is down," one of her agents yelled into his microphone at his wrist. "Get the ambulance down here now."

Nikki stepped away from Olivia giving the agents room to assess her. The paramedics that followed Liv everywhere arrived within seconds wheeling a stretcher toward her. More agents followed in protecting the area around her. Olivia was taken on the stretcher to the ambulance with Nikki steps behind her.

The paramedics checked her vitals. They checked her blood pressure and her eyes. When they arrived at James Madison hospital, Olivia was taken into an exam room.

"What happened?" the doctor asked Nikki as he examined the first lady.

"I don't know, she was leaning against a wall while I told her the schedule and then she just collapsed, there was a lot of blood. Is she alright?"

"Go to the hall, we'll get her taken care of. And someone better call the President."

Nikki called Lauren after not getting Tom. She told her the situation and instructed her to inform the President immediately.

Lauren stood from her desk knocking on the Oval door.

"Mr. President," she announced herself after opening the door.

"Not now Lauren," Fitz said. He was in the middle of telling off several cabinet members and did not want to be interrupted.

"Mr. President, it's important."

"Lauren, what is it? I'm busy!"

"Sir, the first lady's been taken to James Madison. They told me to get you there right away."

Fitz ran to the door with Cyrus, Tom and Daniel behind him. Lauren had started to get the limo ready to get him there the second Nikki told her hospital.

Olivia was awake after a half hour. She laid on the bed while the doctor told her the horrible news. Liv started to cry, imagining how Fitz would feel about it. He didn't even know she was pregnant and he was losing another child. An unborn child, but still a child of his and hers. She knew she should have marched into the Oval and just told him but she wanted it to be special. Liv wanted it to be a private moment between the two of them weeks ago, but there was not a chance for that to happen. Getting their schedules to coincide was a difficult task.

"What happened," Fitz yelled running down the hospital hall towards Olivia's agents.

"Sir, she just collapsed. There was a lot of blood. We aren't sure what happened," her agent Michael told him.

Fitz started to get visions of Gerry's death in his mind. He was not about to lose Olivia as well.

"Mr. President, the First Lady is going to be okay, this is not Gerry," Tom informed him putting his hand on his shoulder. "She's going to be fine."

The doctor came out of the exam room after seeing Fitz standing in the hall through the window. "Mr. President, I'm so sorry." Fitz started to tear up, ready to cry and scream at him. "We couldn't save the baby."

Cyrus and Fitz stared at the doctor, unsure of what they really just heard. "Baby? What baby?"

The doctor's eyes got wide; he just told the President that his child died and he had no idea there was even a child to begin with. "Sir, I'm sorry, I thought you knew. Mrs. Grant was thirteen weeks pregnant. She's suffered a miscarriage. Her assistant said that her schedule had been so busy and that Mrs. Grant was under a lot of stress. Her body couldn't handle it any longer with the baby. I'm very sorry for your loss."

"But, Olivia, she's… she's alright? She's alive and breathing?"

"Yes, Sir. She's resting right now. She needs some time to recuperate and get her body back."

Fitz let out a heavy breath at the same time as Cyrus. "Can I see her now?"

"Of course, Mr. President. She may still be asleep though. I'll give you some time and come back in a bit to check on her."

The doctor walked away leaving Fitz with Cyrus. They stood watching her through the window. Liv was asleep connected to an IV drip in her hand. She looked peaceful for the first time in weeks. Her face was puffy from the hour of crying she had.

"Fitz, I'm sorry. This is probably what she wanted to tell you for weeks," Cyrus said feeling guilty.

"What do you mean?"

"She's been trying to get you up to the residence for weeks but we couldn't do it. Between your schedule and hers, no time was put aside. She screamed at me this morning to make sure you got up to the residence by ten tonight but the meeting with the cabinet was going take longer tonight. There was just no chance of you and her getting time."

"She's my wife, Cyrus! She's not some side chick, some random girl that I hook up with. Olivia is my wife! If she wants to see me, then she can walk right into any meeting that I am having and sit down with me. There is nothing that she and I don't share about. She's a trusted advisor along with my wife. And she was pregnant and I knew nothing about it. This cannot happen!"

"I'm sorry. Fitz, I'm truly, sorry. I should have figured something out."

"Honestly, yes you should have. But it's not just on you," Fitz said, changing his tone to pure disappointment. "I should have set aside time for her and me alone. Everything has been so crazy lately that I didn't think to go upstairs and eat dinner with her. She's been trying to get time with me and I should have done something. This is not going to go well."

Fitz quietly opened the door then closed it. He pulled the chair over towards her bed and kissed her forehead as he sat down.

She stirred a little before waking up completely. Olivia looked to her side and saw her husband right next to her taking her hand in his.

"You didn't need to come," she said giving him a weak smile. "I'd have been fine without you."

Fitz slightly smirked at her, knowing she was trying to be her strong self. "I came anyway. A duty of the husband when the wife is ill… or has a miscarriage."

Liv put her head back on the bed looking at the ceiling. "Which one told you?"

"The doctor, he thought I knew. But I didn't know. You've been trying to…"

"How bad is the press?"

"What? Livie, don't worry about that. The press is…"

"I asked how the press is. I can guarantee that there are at least ten news channels out front of this hospital with correspondence at the White House lawn, giving breaking news that I collapsed on the floor of an elementary school after reading to children and no one knows why I'm in the hospital. A couple of them are probably saying I'm in labor and that's why we got married so fast. At least one will say that I've been shot. Another probably says that I have the same sickness that…" Olivia stopped herself realizing this was hitting close to Fitz. "There was blood but this isn't Gerry. I should have realized you'd be freaking out. I mean, I knew you would freak out when you found out I was in the hospital but I didn't realize that it would be the same thing like Gerry. I'm sorry, Fitz. I should have thought…"

"No, it's not Gerry. I'm not losing you though." They stayed quiet for several minutes just thinking. "I should have put time aside for us. For you and me. I'm sorry I didn't do that. You shouldn't have to go for weeks without seeing me. I know I need to do that, to set aside time for family. And I'm going to do that right away. Each day, I'll be back at the residence for dinner. Whether there's a war or not, I'll be back for dinner and stay there for the night. You should never have to find Cyrus to get five minutes with me."

Olivia nodded knowing that he would try. "But you also have a country to run. I know you want to put family first but there are going to be a lot of times when the country needs you more. If you can just come to bed or at least tell the kids goodnight, I'd be content. I know you have a lot of things to do but you also need your sleep."

"That sounds like a good compromise. I promise, Livie, I'm going to try harder."

"Good. Can you get the doctor? I would like to go home now."

Fitz gave her a quick kiss and went to find the doctor.

"How is she?" Cyrus asked when he stepped in the hall.

"She's being Olivia. It's not fazed her yet. It will though, probably sooner than we think. But she wants to go home now."

"Sounds like Olivia. What do you want to do about the press? And tell Karen?"

"I'll figure that out soon. Right now, I'd like to be there for my wife and go with whatever she wants to do."

Fitz brought the doctor back to the room with him, catching Liv on the phone.

"Meet me in the residence and we'll come up with a strategy. I should be released soon, Abby… Good I'll see you then," she said hanging up. "So I can go now?"

"Mrs. Grant you will need to rest for a while. Let your body come back to being itself. Don't overwork yourself. Maybe even take a couple days away from the craziness of being the first lady?"

"Not going to happen, doctor. Things to do, people to see, all that jazz. But I'll go a little easier."

"Good. I'm very sorry for your loss ma'am. I'll get your discharge papers and the President can take you home."

Fitz opened the door for the doctor and turned to Liv when he left. "I'll have your assistant clear your schedule for the next couple days."

"No, you won't. Leave my schedule the way it is. I will handle it."

"Olivia, you heard the doctor. Take a couple days to come back to you and then be first lady. Just a step at a time. You don't have to prove anything to anyone."

"Funny, I remember telling you that after you were shot and adamant that you were going back to be the President. And if memory serves me right, you were shot in the head."

"That was different. The people voted for me, they needed to see me back in the Oval before Sally screwed everything up. And Mellie was the one who orchestrated all that. People voted for me to be President. Not Sally."

"Are you going to stand there and tell me I'm ornamental too? I can always go back to being functional. I can go back to running OPA. I'll start it back up and we'll get the show going again."

"You know that's not what I mean. I'm not going to fight with you about this. You need a couple days to relax and be fine. Just take them. You and Karen could go to a salon or you can play with Teddy. Do something that isn't on the schedule."

"You're right, Fitz. I'm not going to fight with you about this either. I will take care of myself like I have for years. I will sign my release forms and go back to the White House and figure out this mess."

Fitz sat beside her on the bed. "Cyrus can take care of all this. He will handle this and everything will be fine."

"Stop arguing with me. I've already got it taken care of. Just let me do my job and you do yours."


	39. Chinese Takeout

"Like you predicted, Liv, the press is everywhere and no one has the true story," Abby told Olivia. She'd been watching the news channels getting everything she could on Liv's trip to the hospital. "How do you want to handle this?"

"People cannot know the truth. We're going to release a statement saying I was taken to the hospital after a bad lunch. The agents over reacted. I was not poisoned, I just didn't agree with the food. I'll tell the chef it wasn't his food though."

"Why can't we tell them the truth?" Fitz asked snooping from the doorway. "The truth isn't going to hurt the public. It will leave you alone for a couple of days to rest."

Olivia asked Abby to head down to the press room and prepare everyone for the press conference. She stared at Fitz like an interesting statue. "Why would I tell the public the truth?"

"You're keeping it a dirty little secret. And like you say, they always come out."

"Yes, they do. I had a brain tumor and paid four million dollars for people not to know and the only person who found out was you. I'm still a bit curious as to how you found out. I'd like to meet the person who informed you. But saving that to the side, I will not tell the American public about this. This is a family matter and it will remain that way. No one needs to know about this. Nikki, Cyrus, the agents, Abby, Quinn, and Huck all know and that's too many people already. So I am going down to the press room and I'm going to tell the press that I had an upset stomach and my lunch did not agree with me. I'll go on and say that my caring agents over reacted and demanded that I go get checked out at the hospital. That is how this is going to go and you will follow this plan and you aren't going to release a different statement about this, are we clear?"

Fitz walked over to her, pulling her to him. "This is going to change you. You just lost a child that you were never able to hold. You are going to change whether you want to or not. It's just something that happened. Livie, no one is going to judge you for this. Just tell America what happened. They will give their sympathy and leave you alone."

Olivia pushed away from him taking several steps back. "I'm not HER! I am not going to tell the United States citizens and the rest of the world that I had a miscarriage because as far as I am concerned, I didn't. I am not going to tell them I did. SHE made it front page news by faking one, she got you the sympathy vote."

"There's no need for a sympathy vote now. I am done with being President after this. My terms are over; there will not be another election. People will care that you lost a baby, it gives them the impression that you care about the country. That you care enough to work overtime and make the country better with me."

"We are dropping this. This discussion is over. Now, I would like to get changed so I can go down there and tell the press that I am perfectly fine. I would like for you to be there but if you don't want to be there, I'll understand."

Olivia went into the closet and chose an outfit getting ready. She went down to the press room with Nikki at her side. She silently hoped that Fitz would be there and show that they were a united front but she didn't think he would.

"Good afternoon, as you all know, I was just released from the hospital," Liv started. "I would just like to inform you all that I am in perfect condition. Just some food that didn't agree with me. My secret service agents over reacted a little. But I have had a good laugh at the speculations you all have announced on the news. Thank you."

The press started to call her name to ask questions.

"So the statement that you are pregnant is…"

"Untrue to the fullest degree. I believe I would know if I was pregnant."

"What food was it?"

"Chinese takeout. I think I'll stick to the chef's food for now."

"Why isn't the President aiding his sick wife?"

"The President is…"

"I'm here," Fitz said coming in from the side. He looked at Olivia and gave her a weak smile. Fitz walked to the podium and kissed her on the cheek. "Sorry I'm a little late. Meeting ran a bit long."

"Sir, if your wife is sick don't you think you should be at her side?"

"Obviously you've never been President. Olivia and I talked and she assured me that she was perfectly fine. She looks perfectly healthy now and I will make sure she stays that way. Thank you for your time."

Fitz took Olivia's hand and walked out of the room with her.

"Thank you," she said giving his hand a squeeze.

Fitz quickly kissed her lips and went off to the Oval.


	40. Do Not Push Me

"I got it," Cyrus told Fitz running into the Oval.

"She's going to be pissed when she finds out you have it," Fitz replied putting down the report. "What'd she add this week?"

For the past three weeks since Olivia's miscarriage, she'd been adding things to her schedule and Fitz was canceling them. Well, making Nikki cancel the events. If it didn't need to be taken care of right away, Fitz canceled it. Nikki had been telling Olivia that people had family issues, something came up, Fitz needed her, or she made other engagements longer. Most of Olivia's staff and Fitz's knew what he was doing. As far as Fitz knew, Liv had no idea about what was really happening.

"She added seeing two dozen people this week. She wants to see Nancy Drake and Anna. She also put in some of her OPA clients. Over half of them are her OPA clients. And they are all hour long meetings," Cyrus said looking at her private schedule.

"What does she want with them? Have Nikki call each of them and cancel the appointments. She just had a miscarriage. This woman does not know when to stop and breathe. I know she's asked me for the past couple weeks to drop it but… Make sure Liv doesn't know about this Cy."

"Of course, it'll be my head she wants too."

Cyrus went to find Nikki outside the First Lady's office. He told her to cancel all the unnecessary meetings.

"I think she's getting suspicious," she told him.

"I highly doubt that."

Olivia sat in her office preparing for her thirteen meetings for the day. She pulled out files from her boxes that were in storage she made Abby bring over.

"Ma'am?" Nikki announced her presence going into the room. "I'm sorry but Congress is being held up right now. I know you were supposed to meet with Shaw, Caldwell, and Lang but they won't be able to make it. Also, Mrs. Drake called and said she wasn't able to come today."

"That's odd. Congress doesn't ever get a damn thing done but now they're working on something that no one can leave? Must be big."

"I'm sure it is. You don't have anything until this afternoon with the Ambassador's wife. I'm sure Teddy would love for you to read to him," Nikki suggested.

Olivia nodded and thought a moment. Before Nikki got to the door, Liv's voice stopped her. "Please inform Cyrus that he needs to keep his nose out of my business."

As a couple more days passed Olivia's schedule was being more and more reduced.

"Nikki, have either the President or Cyrus asked you for my schedule?"

"No, ma'am," she lied. "Neither of them."

"You are lying. I can tell."

"No one has asked for it."

"My gut says that you are lying and I have to trust my gut. One of them asked you for the schedule. Which one?"

Nikki couldn't think of a way out of this one. "In a way, both. Mr. Beene asked for your schedule for the President. He wanted to make sure you weren't over doing it. You did just have a…"

"Don't even think about finishing that sentence. It is never to be brought up again. And you are not to speak of it to anyone. Clear?"

Olivia went on with her day sitting down at the dining table ready for dinner waiting for Fitz to show up. Mellie had Karen and Teddy for the extended weekend in California giving Fitz and Liv some time together. It was nearly seven when Fitz came up being earlier than she anticipated.

"I'm not an idiot, Fitzgerald."

"Okay? I never said you were?" Fitz stated back, ready for the battle between them to begin.

"I've put up with it long enough and I won't stand for it anymore."

"Would you please enlighten me on the subject? What exactly are we discussing?"

"You can't just cancel my appointments and demand to see my private schedule. You don't trust me again. I have things that need to be taken care of."

"Livie…"

"Don't 'Livie' me. Don't try to deny that you've been getting my schedule and canceling my meetings. Nikki blabbed. It didn't take that much to get it out of her either. You can't worry about me when you have other places and people to be concerned with. I do understand your concern but it's done. We are fine and moving on. Things are back to normal."

"You are not back to normal. You need to admit that you are upset from the loss of our child. You need to come back to before that. Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant when you first found out? Why didn't you just tell me flat out? We both know our schedules are hectic but that doesn't mean we don't have a half hour to be us. You could have told me then. Or wake me up and tell me."

"I'm asking you this one more time, Fitz. Please just drop it. I am fine, and this is good. Now, we are done with this conversation. Do not interfere with my schedule again Fitzgerald. You won't like how I get back at both you and Cyrus."

"Scary Livie is back. That's an improvement."

"Do not push me."


	41. I'm Now Requiring You

"You canceled a week's worth of meetings, Fitzgerald!" Olivia yelled coming into the Oval. "You can NOT do that!"

"I can and I did, Olivia. You've taken on too much work and you need to relax a bit. Karen's been begging you for weeks to go get your nails done with her. You haven't spent any time with Teddy while he's been here. You fill every waking moment, and even some when you should be asleep, with meetings with everyone. You spent last night with my communications director instead of coming to bed. You have been pushing yourself to the limit and over. Liv, you had a miscarriage, you need…"

"For you to stop bringing it up! That is the only thing I need right now. At this time, at this very moment, the only thing I need is for you to stop reminding me about what happened because it did NOT happen. We are moving on. I've moved on. So I am going to ask this one more time and not again. Please do not bring up that subject ever again."

Olivia turned out of the Oval and walked down to her office. Every day since her trip to the hospital, Fitz had brought up her miscarriage. He insisted that she take it easy and not fill her day with meaningless meetings. He wanted her to do the bare minimum to stay functioning.

"Cyrus, ask Nikki to clear Olivia's schedule for the weekend. And call Mellie and ask if she would like to have Karen and Teddy from Friday to Sunday. Clear my schedule as well. I'd like to keep Liv functioning before she breaks."

"Trip to Camp David for the weekend? Sounds like a good plan."

"Trip to Vermont. It's a safe place for her. And we don't have to be presidential. Make it happen please."

"I'm on it."

Cyrus canceled the First Lady and President's schedule, giving them time away. Mellie agreed to take the kids and was happy to have some time with them.

While Olivia was busy with the chef the night before Fitz planned to leave, he packed both their bags and hid them in the closet. He pulled her to bed with him wrapping himself around her. Fitz could feel how tense she was and how stressed she was by the way she was breathing. They both breathed together. And if one was off, there was something wrong. She slept but not comfortably with him.

In the morning, Fitz woke up before her and made sure her breakfast was served in bed. After she ate she got ready for her day. She went down to her office preparing for the first meeting of the day, she called Nikki in.

"I gave her the day off," Fitz told her as he walked into her office.

"Why would you do that? We have the State Dinner to prepare for. Its next week and we have to finalize these details. There are things to do. And you can't just go around giving my assistant the day off without my knowledge."

"I can and I did. Come on, we're leaving soon. Marine One is leaving in a few minutes."

"Spontaneous get away? Is this you making up for destroying my schedule for the past month?"

"You could call it that, I guess. Let's go."

Olivia followed him out to Marine One. He buckled in next to Liv and they took off. She was surprised to see them land in Vermont at the house, but was happy to be 'home'.

"So what are we doing here?" She asked stepping inside. "I am glad to be here but I thought we'd be at Camp David instead. So what are we doing?" Liv wrapped her arms around Fitz's neck as he put his hands on her waist.

"We are enjoying peace and quiet," he told her before he gave her a quick kiss. "And having a discussion."

"About what?" Liv smiled before she realized the real reason he brought her here. "No."

She tried to pull away from him, but he held her tighter. "Yes, Livie. Please? I have questions and I want answers. I've been trying for a month but you won't let me. This didn't just happen to you. It also happened to me." Olivia pushed herself away from him going across the room. "The baby was part of both of us. And you're not yourself. Don't you realize the difference in you? Before you demanded that I am to bed with you every night and now you sleep at your desk. You're ignoring the kids."

"I am not ignoring them."

"Karen asked you several times one question and you never answered her or even bothered to look at her at dinner last week. You used to read to Teddy when he was with us and now you don't want to be in the same room as him. People are noticing the changes Olivia. You can't continue like this. You had a miscarriage. A lot of people do, but it's changed you too much."

"I am not discussing this. We are not doing this now or ever. It happened, it's done, it's over, move on. The world still spins and people go on. Stop talking about this, please."

"The world may still spin but you aren't going on. This isn't healthy for you. Don't you see it? How is the woman, the Olivia Pope, able to push such a dirty secret under the rug and let it lie?"

"Because I'm not Olivia Pope! I'm Olivia Grant! How are you missing this? I'm Olivia Grant now. Let secrets lie because this is how things go now. I don't fix things anymore. I work with charities and orphanages. I finalize details on State Dinners, on speeches that people write for you. I rearrange china in a room. I read to children. I have meet and greets with wives of powerful men. I'm not Olivia Pope!"

"You still are her! You are still the Livie, my Livie that you were before we got married. Nothing has changed, you are still you. Our marriage didn't change anything between us."

"Yes it did. Olivia Grant does all the things a First Lady does. It's about you and getting you what you need to be successful as President. I answer to you and to America. Olivia Pope, she doesn't answer to anyone. People answer to her. She produces for the people that hire her to fix their problems. She doesn't give a damn what people think of her. She's the most feared woman in the damn country and now she's turned into this housewife who does what her husband tells her to do."

"When was the last time you did anything I told you to do?" Fitz laughed.

"An hour ago, when you told me to get on Marine One. Last night when you told me to come to bed. This week when you canceled all my appointments. This month when you canceled my appointments. I've done everything for you Fitz. I married you!" Liv slipped out.

"You married me for me? I wasn't the one who had me taken here and told we were getting married in twelve hours. Don't blame that on me. You married me because you wanted to. And don't you dare say otherwise!"

"I married you for both of us. It gave you a piece of mind and it gave me you."

"Good, now that we're agreed. I canceled your appointments because the doctor said you needed to relax. And instead, you drown yourself in work. You just miscarried our baby…"

"Do you honestly think that I don't know that?! That I don't know that every day since that I lost the baby, our baby? I've been dealing with it. I've been coping. I wanted the baby; I wanted our child to live. But things happened. Things that weren't planned happened. My schedule became chaotic with everyone wanting something. It was stressful but I was handling it. I didn't see you for ten days; I hadn't talked to you in ten days. I was trying to find some time to tell you that I was pregnant. That we were going to have a baby but it didn't work out. Our lives became so busy that I couldn't handle the stress anymore. I'm sorry that my body gave up and couldn't handle me and the baby. And I'm sorry that I don't want to use that loss and tell the world about it. I know it wouldn't have been for political gain but there are some things that not everyone needs to know. I can't stand to be in the same room with the kids because they are your kids. They aren't ours. They are yours. I've pushed myself to be around Karen and it's a bit easier. Karen is older and doesn't remind me that I lost a baby. I look at Teddy and I can see exactly what I am missing. I was there when she was pregnant with him. I remember everything from that time. You being so attentive to her and to the baby. The child that puked on her and you went running, even for show. And I won't get that. I'm not saying that you aren't attentive to me because you are, way more than I think you should. Teddy makes me realize that there isn't a growing human in me that's ours. So yeah, I can't be around the kids and it kills me for that. It's killing me that I can actually feel that way. Karen and Teddy are terrific. They are amazing kids that I love as my own but they aren't mine."

Fitz sat down on the couch, accepting what she was saying. She didn't hate him or hate the kids, she hated herself for not being able to hold on to something that was theirs. He wanted to go comfort her and tell her it wasn't her fault.

"You didn't choose to lose our baby, Liv. I'm sorry that our kids make you feel that way. If you need time away from them, I'll ask Mellie to keep them a bit longer."

"Don't you dare! I will not be the reason there is a strain on your relationship with your kids. Karen and Teddy come first. They should always come first and I won't replace them in your priorities. Just because I can't handle being around Teddy right now doesn't mean you need to send him off to be with her."

Fitz stared at Olivia for several minutes. "Why didn't you tell me you were pregnant when you first found out? When did you find out?"

Liv sat on the bar stool at the counter away from Fitz. "I found out just before the State Dinner a month after we got married. I was going to tell you after the dinner when we were going upstairs to bed. But…"

"But I said I didn't want to share you. Livie, I'm sorry."

Olivia turned towards the kitchen looking away from him. He could hear her silently crying. He went over to her and put his hand on her shoulder before turning her to him. She was letting all the emotions out.

"Sweet baby," he whispered her in ear as he kissed her hair. "I'm sorry."

"I lost our baby, Fitz. I'm so sorry. I couldn't handle it," she sobbed into his chest.

"It's not your fault, Livie. None of this was in any way your fault. It just happened. I should have known something was wrong with you when you started going from happy to screaming in five seconds. I'm sorry, sweet baby, so sorry."

Olivia let out everything she had been holding in for the past month. When she was finally done crying and pulled herself together, she stood up and started to walk away. She suddenly turned around to face Fitz.

"I'm not asking you to drop this subject anymore. I'm now requiring you to drop this. If you want us to work and be a functioning married couple, I'm requiring you to stop talking about this miscarriage. I've let out my feelings on the subject and have moved on. Please have the courtesy of not bringing it up again."

Fitz walked over in front of her and kissed her lips. "Okay."


	42. The End

One year had gone past while Fitz and Olivia captured their marriage back. They moved past the miscarriage and onto making a family. Karen was in her senior year of high school enjoying living at the White House with her dad and stepmom. Teddy came to visit every other week as per the custody agreement between Fitz and Mellie. Life was going great until Olivia's seventh month of pregnancy.

"Mr. Beene she's coming down here." Several people left in the West Wing ran to hide when the elevator doors dinged.

"Sir!" Cyrus yelled coming into the Oval closing the door behind him. "I couldn't stop her. I told her you were busy but she insisted. She's coming!"

"Who is coming, Cy?" Fitz smirked at how nervous he was.

"YOUR WIFE!"

Fitz cleared everything off his desk. He wasn't supposed to be in the Oval this late. He was supposed to be already upstairs in the Residence with her. He hid all the papers and put the Scotch in the bottom drawer when Olivia smashed in the door.

"What are you doing down here!" she yelled at him. "You are supposed to be upstairs with me. And why does it smell like liquor in here? Was there some damn men's club in here? Answer me Fitzgerald!"

Cyrus quietly stepped into the corner trying to avoid Liv but did so unsuccessfully as she grabbed his arm as he tried to escape.

"AND YOU! You agreed that you were going to watch him and make sure that there was absolutely no liquor! We agreed that if I couldn't drink neither could he, I can't trust you to do anything can I?"

"Livie," Fitz cooed at her. "I was just on my way up. I had an important call that I had to take. Cyrus had the Vice President in here earlier and they had a drink. Relax, Livie. Things are fine. Are you hungry? I can have the chef make something. I could eat a whale right now."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" she screamed at him, letting Cyrus go.

"Bad choice of words on my part. Come on; let's go find something to eat. I'm sure the triplets are starving too. You'll have to feed them something."

"Fitz, your three children inside me are always starving. Chinese sounds good. Probably after though."

"After? After what?"

"After we get these babies out of me since I've been in labor for the past hour!"


End file.
